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NARRATIVE 



KK TlilC LIKE <•!• 






GENERAL LESLIE COMBS: 



KMBRACIXG 



S^ 



INCIDENTS IN THE EAKLY HISTORY 



^k- 



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NOR T II W E ST E R N T E R R ITOR Y. 



I 1 



WASIIINGTOX: 

lUINTED nV .1. T. AND I.F.M. TOWERS. 
1855. 






r>.m 



* ■ ^) (r '^ 

NAERATIVE 



OF TUK 



LIFE OF GENERAL LESLIE COMBS. 

OF KENTUCKV, 

EMBRACING INCIDENTS IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE NORTH- 
WESTERN TERRITORY. 



The biography of men iu the Republic 
who have raised themselves by their own 
uiiiiided taleutsand energies above the level 
of the general mass of the community in 
which their lot has been cast, must be both 
eutertaiuiug and instructive to their fellow- 
countrymen. Doubly instructive and pro- 
fitable, in a more extended view, are these 
personal histories, when they relate to the 
lives and fortunes of those who may be 
regarded as representative men — types of 
classes that constitute essential or important 
elements in our national character, and 
which, though somewhat heterogeneous in 
their origin and diveree in their features, 
have yet become, through the harmonizing 
and fostering influences of our republican 
institutions, consolidated and blended into 
a congruous whole, known and recognized 
throughout the world, distinctively as the 
American character. 

Nor are these essential and characteristic 
elements referable solely to peculiar nation- 
al origins. On the contrary, local and other 
circumstances, irrespective of nationalities, 
have formed some of the most distinctive, 
and, in a national point of view, impor- 
tant of these elements. Of this kind were 
the cicumstances attending the early settle- 
ment of our Western country ; circumstan- 
ces which overbore and nearly obliterat<!d 
all distinctions of national origin, blending 
and consolidating a'', such elements in the 
comprehensive, distinctive national one, rep- 
resented by the Western hunter, pioneer and 
settler, as combined in the same individual. 
Nurtured amidst stirring scenes, and ac- 
customed from early childhood to a life of 
activity, hardship, exposur<^ud thrilling 



adventure — hence a hardy, enterprisin-, 
bold, and fearless race; and leading the frc:'. 
and untrammeledlife of the backwoods, anc! 
breathing from infancy the atmosphere o 
unrestrained freedom and independence — 
hence a frank, generous, hospitable rac<', 
endued with an unsophisticated and plain 
sense of right, with a ready disposition to 
uphold and protect it, as well as a keen na- 
tive sense of wrong, and an impulsive in- 
stinct to repel and redress it ; the men of 
this race have ever been foremost, whether 
in extending the area of civilization and oi^ 
the Republic, by felling the forest and sub- 
duing the rank prairie, or in defending our 
national rights and avenging our national 
wrongs on the field of battle. 

It was this race, represented by an> 
speaking through a Ilenry Clay and other, 
of that stamp, which aroused our Goveri' 
ment to a declaration of war, to vindicat 
our violated national rights on the oceai 
early in the present century ; and it wa 
this race themselves, who, at the call r 
their country, rushed with an unexampl. 
unanimity and alacrity to the field, wliil 
in some parts of tiie country, but too man; 
of the more immediate neighbors and kin 
dreil of those citizens whose rights of per 
sou or property on the sea had been out 
raged, not only refused to respond to thi : 
national call, but sought to thwart the inir- 
posesofthe Government, by op})Osing it? 
j measures adopted for the purpose of obtaiii- 
I ing redress, in some instances, by acts little 
i short of treason. And it is to the descend- 
iut.-^ of this race, already numbering mil- 
lions of hardy, unflinching republicuus, to 
! which our eountiy must look for a patriotic 



« 



2 



GENEEAL LESLIE COMBS. 



and generous puj>port of its institufw^ns,. as 
a united whole, wlienever the violence of , 
ultra factions in the extreme North or South, i 
impelled by whatever motives, shall seek to 
overturn the institutions established by our ! 
revolutionary f(jrerathers. It is then that 
the people of the great West, the descend- : 
ants of the pioneer, hunter race, will — as 
cue of her representatives declared in his ' 
jilace in a late Congress — have something to 
A'«y on the iinal (juestiou of union or disunion. 

As being a worthy representative of this ] 
ra«-«', and also one whose early life and ad- 
ventures are intimately connected with an , 
interesting and instructive, but now almost 1 
forgotten portion of our national history, as 
relating to the West, we shall depart sotne- 
Avhat from our oidinaiy i^ractice, and allow 
ourselves more space and latitude than 
usual, in detailing the personal narrative 
of the subject of the present memoir. 

General Leslik Combs is descended, 
on the side of his mother, whose maiden 
name was 8araii Kiciiaudson, froni a re- 
spectable Quaker family of Maryland, con- 
nected by blood with the Thomases and : 
Snowdens. His father was by birth a Vir- 
ginian, and served as a subaltern oilicer in 
the revolutionary army under Washington, 
at the siege of Yorktown and ca]>ture of 
Lord Cornwallis. lie soon afterwards emi- 
gratetl to Kentucky, and was engaged in 
all those dangerous and sometimes bloody 
scenes which resulted in driving out the In- 
dians, and devoting that rich and beautiful 
region to the cause and purposes of civili- 
zation. 

IJoth his parents have been dead for seve- 
ral years ; and as their youngest of twelve 
children, he has erected over tln-ir humble 
gravt'S, within a few miles of l>ounsboro, 
appropriate t<jn)bstones. On his father's 
are inscribed the simple facts, that he was] 
a *^ Jicroluliunari/ OjJIcr.r (tnd a Jluntcrof 
KaUuckif!''' A sim])le, allecling, and sug- 
gestive tribute to the unpretending but 
st<M'liiig wortli of one of that class of nifii 
which has ini])ressed its characteristic traits 
as honorably as it has indelibly on our na- ] 
lional character : " a huntt-r of Kentucky;" 
one of that fearless, ent<'rprising, self-rely- 
ing, frank anil generous race, which, as the 
hardy pioneer of civilization in our Western ! 
savMge wilds, has extended tiic arv;i of the 
liepublic over those once almost illimitable 
forests aud prairies, and, by its valor aud | 



devotion to country, has contributed so 
much to our national greatness and fame. 

Seven only of his children survived him; 
among whom was dinded his hwidrcd-ucre 
farm in Clark county, which had furnished 
his only support in raising his large family, 
C)f course their means and opportunities of 
etlucatiou were limited ; but fortunately 
for the subject of this memoir, when he was 
but ten or eleven years of age, the Rev, 
Joiix Lyle, a Presbvterian clergvmau, 
opened a school of a higher order than was 
usual in the country in those days ; and in 
it he was taught the Latin language, as 
well as English grammar, geography, and 
the lower branches of mathematics. His 
progress in all his studies was rapid, and he 
soon became the petof his venerable instruc- 
tor, as he was the pride of his aged parents. 

This state of things continued about three 
years, when Mr. Lyle removed to a neigh- 
boring county; and for a time our young 
scholar was compelled to remain at home, 
and assisted in cultivating the farm. The 
great anxiety, however, of both his parents 
to give him as liberal an education as pos- 
sible, was soon gratified by their Ix^ingablo 
to j)lace him in the faniilv of a French gen- 
tleman residing near Ashland, whose lady 
taught a few scholars, and under whose in- 
struction he remained for a year ; his time 
being mainly devoted to the acquisition of 
her native language. That admirable lady 
is yet alive, and still residing in her humble 
home, one of her dauirhters having married 
a son of Henry Clay. 

Shortly after returning home, he was 
placed as the junior deputy in the clerk's 
office of Hon. S. II. Wootlson, in Jessamine 
county, and was residing there, when the 
last war was declared agaitist Great Britain. 
Thee.xcitement in Kentucky, on the occur- 
reJice of that event, pervaded all ages anil 
classes. 

Ivven those who arc old enough to re- 
member the events of those times, but wlso 
were born and have alw;ivs lived in the 
eiistern ])oitions of the countrv, can have 
little idea of the intensity of feeling aroused 
by this event among the hardy inhabitants 
of Kentuclcy and the frontier ]>ortions of the 
north-western country. In that region the 
interval between the close of the war of the 
lovolution and the declaration of the sec- 
ond war with the same power,had witnessed 
an ahuost untitterrupted struggle bcween 



GENERAL LESLIE CO:\rT]S. 



3 



the Western pioneer settlers and the native 
tribes of those regions, wlio, as was well 
known, were continually instigated and paid 
by British agents to harrass and devastate 
our infant settlements. Hence the national 
animosity against the mother country ex- 
cited by the War of Independence, so far 
from having been allayed or eilaced in those 
])arts, as was tlie case to a considerable ex- 
tent in the East, by the lapse of thirty years 
of peace, nominal as regarded the Western 
frontier, had, on the con traiy, been gradually 
increasing and becoming intensified down 
to the very moment of the declaration of war 
in 1812. This feeling reached its acme 
when that same power whose agents had so 
long been inciting the savages to rutliless 
lorays on the defenceless and peaceful set- 
iJements, now entered into alliances with 
tlK^n, and, by ottering premiums for the 
scaljy.s of men, women, and cluldren, incited 
them to redoubled zeal in the prosecution 
of their instinctive and inhuman mode of 
warfare. 

A series of revolting atrocities perpetrated 
early in the war by the savages, many of 
them under the very eye, and with the ap- 
])ri)val or connivance of the commanders of 
their British allies, es()ecially of the noto 
rious Colonel, and for these his acts pro- 
moted or brevetted General Proctor, whose 
memory the voice of outraged humanity 
will consign to eternal infamy, aroused the 
whole Western countiy to a pitch of intense 
excitement, which manifested itself in a 
universal cry for revenge, and a spontane- 
ous rush to the field.* 



* "Exasperated to madness by tlie failure of 
llicir iitteiii|it, Se|itcinber 4, 1812, on Vovi Har- 
rison, [defended liy Captain Zacliavy Taylor,] a 
considerable party of Indians now made an irrup- 
tion into the settlements on the Pigeon Roost fork 
of Wliite river, wJiere they barbarously massacred 
twenty-one of the iidiabitants, many of tlieiii wo- 
men and children. The children hail their brains 
knoclvcd out against trees; and one woman, wlio 
was pregnant, was ripped open, and her unborn 
infant taken from her, and its brains knocked out. 
However, this was but a small matter; it amounted 
to MO essential injur;/ ; it was all for the best, as 
it was done hy the disciples of the Wabash Pro- 
phet, who was in a close and liolj- alliance with 
George the Third, defender of the faith, andlegi- 
timate sovereign of the Bible Society nation, 
which is the bulwark of our most holy religion. 
Yet it excited the indignation of the uncivilized 
republican infidels in the iieighl)oring settlements 
of Indiana and Kowtwdky."— McAfee. History of 
the late War in the Western Country, pp. 154-5. 



It cannot therefore bewondere<l at, that 
the son of an old soldier and hunter, who 
had often listened of a winter evening to his 
father's thrilling details of Indian fights, an<l 
ambuscades, and hairbreadtli escapes, should 
be infected with the contagion, and long, 
boy as ho was, to throw away his pen and 
seize some implement of war. 

Young Leslie Combs had just passed his 
eighteenth birthday, and was, by law, suU- 
jeot to militia duty, although he had not been 
inseribi'd on any muster-roll. K(;ntucky 
was called upon for several thousand troops, 
and he hoped to be one of the soldiers enlisted 
in the great cause of " sailors' rights and free 
trade with all the world," in defiance of Bri- 
tain's proud, insulting (;laim, as mistress of 
the seas, to insult our flag and seize our sea- 
men. He accordingly borrowed a fowling- 
piece, and set him.self to work to acquire the 
manual exercise as taught by Baron Steu- 
ben, then the only approved master in sucli 
nuitters. It was supposed that a draft 
would be necessary, but, instead of that, 
there were moi'c volunteers than were re- 
(piired to fill the quota of Kentucky, and 
young Leslie's parents objected to his going, 
inasmuch as two of his elder brothers had 
previously joine<l the troops ordered to 
the northern frontier, under General Win- 
chester. It was not long after they jnarch- 
ed, however, before his continued and 
earnest importunities, sometimes urged 
with tears in his eyes, prevailed upon them 
to let him go. Equipping himself as a 
private of cavalry as sjieedily as possible, 
about a month after the army marched 
from Georgetown, Kentucky, he started 
alone on their track, hoi)iug to overtake 
them in time to partake of their glorious 
triumphs in Canada, for, like the rest, he 
never dreamed of disaster and defeat. "I 
shall never forget," to quote his words in 
after years, " the parting scene with my 
beloved and venerated mother, in which 
she reminded me of my father's history, 
and her own trials and dangers in the ear- 
ly settlement of Kentucky, and closed by 
saying to me, ' as I had resolved to beeomu 
a soldier, I must never disgrace my parent* 
by running from danger; — to die rather 
than fail to do my duty.' This injunction 
was ever present to me afterwaids, in the 
midst of dangers and difficulties of which 
I had then formed no idea, and stimulated 
me to deeds that I might otherwise, per- 



GENERAL LESLIE COMBS. 



aps, have hesitated to undertake and per- 



)vm. 



Here properly closes what may be term- 
d the first chapter of his personal history ; 
'ecause from this time he threw otF boy- 
-lood, and entered upon a career more be- 
fitting manhood, 

Ik'fore proceeding with the personal nar- 
rative of our subject, and in order to ena- 
ble the reader the better to understand the 
cenes of danger and suffering through 
which he passed dunng the unfortunate 
campaigns of 1812-13, ^e will briefly 
sketch the situation of the OTeat North- 
western Territory, now composing some 
six or seven sovereign States of this great 
ripublican confederacy. From just be- 
jnd Urbana and Dayton, in western Ohio, 
> the northern lakes in one directi(jn, and 
(le Mississippi river in another, was one 
unbroken wilderness, inhabited only by In- 
dians and wild beast, with the exception of 
V. few scattering settlements on some of the 
principal rivers, at great distances from 
ich other. There was a small fort at De- 
I ruit, one at Mackinac, and one at Chicago, 
besides Forts Wayne and Harrison, each 
garrisoned by a few regular troops. Wil- 
i'iam Hull was Governor of the Territory 
of Michigan, and AVilliam Ilunry Harrison 
of Indiana. In view of the growing diffi- 
culties with Great liritain in the spring of 
1812, Governor Hull received the appoint- 
ment of Brgadier General in the army of 
■the United States, and was sent to Ohio to 
■(ake command of the forces ordered to De- 
troit to protect that frontier in case of war. 
These consisted of the fourth regiment of 
regulars, under Colonel Miller, and three 
legiraeuts of Ohio volunteers, under Col- 
(jncls Duncan McArthur, Lewis Cass, and j 
James Find lay. War was declared on the 
ISth June, 1812, while General Hull was 
on his tardy march through the northern 
wamps of Ohio towards Detroit. His 
"aggage, which had l>een sent by way of 
the lake, was cajUured in attempting to 
pass Maiden, at the uiouth of the Detroit 
1-1 ver. lie himself soon aftcrwanls reached 
' >otroit, issued his famous ))roclamalion, 
!id talked largely of overrunning Upper 
anada, for elfecting which object he had 
iinple forces und.-r his command ; instead 
>f doing which, however, he very soon re- 
lented back to the American shore, and 
on the inth August, tlisgracefully surren- 



dered his army and the whole of Michigan 
Territory to (General Brock, conmianding 
the British forces on that frontier. 

Mackinaw had been forced to capitulate 
a month earlier, and Chicago had been 
abandoned on the loth of August, and its 
gaiTison mur<lered or captured by a large 
force of Indians, who had received news of 
Hull's retreat from Canada, an.l thereupon 
resolved to unite with the British against 
us, as they had been previously urged to do 
by Tecumseh, then rising into power 
among the northern tribes on this side of 
the American and British boun<lary line. 

Thus our whole frontier from Lake Erie 
to the Mississippi li ver was left utterlv unde- 
fended except by two small forts — Wat/ne 
and Harrison — one at the junction of the 
St. Joseph and St. Mary rivers, forming the 
Maumee of ike Lake, the other on the 
far-distant Wabash. I3oth were defended 
block-houses and wooden pickets, both 
were attacked by tlie Indians at about the 
same time, and Captain Zack Taylor, de- 
fending Fort Harrison, as we have before 
intimated, with most unflinching heroism, 
laid the foundation of that subsequent ca- 
reer of military glory and self-devotion, 
which finally elevated him to the Presiden- 
tial office. 

Three regiments of Kentucky volunteers, 
under the coinmand of Colonels Scott,Lewis 
and Allen, and one regiment of regulars, 
under Colonel Wells, ha<i, in the mean 
time, been ordered to the north-western 
frontier, to re-enforce General Hull. The 
former rendezvoused at Georgetown on the 
16th August, and after being addressed by 
the old veteran, General Charles Scott, 
then Governor of KcJitucky, aiul by Henry 
Clay, were mustered into the service of the 
United States. The best blood of Ken- 
tucky, the sons of the old hunters and In- 
dian fighters, coulil be found in this little 
army. Two members of Congress were 
among the privates in the ranks. Little 
did they imagine, while listening to the 
soul-stirnng appeals of the great Kentucky 
orator, that, instead of marching to Canada 
to aid in its conquest, on that very day 
the white flag of disgraceful surrender had 
been hung out by the coward or the trai- 
tor Hull from the battlements of Detroit ; 
and that their own career of anticipated 
victories m\<\ glory would terminate in di.s- 
aster, as it did, on the bloody battle-field 



GENERAL LESLIE COMBS. 



5 



of Raisin, on tho following 22d day of Jan- 
tiary. General James Winchester had 
command of this force, and marched on 
the l7th by way of Cincinnati, (then a 
small town on the Ohio river, opposite to 
Newport,) towards the north-western fron- 
tier; and it was not until they had passed 
the Kentucky border that the news of 
Hull's surrender reached them. 

Governor Harrison had acquired very 
considerable fame by his glorious victory 
at Tippecanoe the preceeding November, 
and was in Kentucky at that time on a visit. 
So soon as the events just above related 
were communicated to the Government at 
Washington, three or four additional regi- 
ments of volunteers were ordered from 
Kentucky, and the Governor of Kentucky 
])revailed on Governor Harrison to accept 
the office of Major-Cireneral, and to hasten 
with the forces then in the field, and a large 
body of mounted Kentucky militia, lo the 
relief of Fort AVayne. 

This, it will be remembered, he accom- 
plished, and forced the Indians and their 
British auxiliaries to retreat precipitately 
towards Canada, without daring to engage 
him in battle. 

By selling a small piece of land (all he 
had on earth) devised to him by a deceased 
elder brother, young Combs soon complet- 
ed his outfit as a volunteer, and, armed 
with holsters and broadsword, with only 
fifteen dollars in his pocket, he started for 
the north-western army, which was then 
marching with all possible speed towards 
the frontiers of Ohio, in order to reinforce 
General Hull. Never having been forty 
miles from home before this time, young 
and inexperienced as he was, nothing but 
his burning zeal for the cause to which he 
liad devoted himself could have sustained 
liim against all the perils and hardships of 
his long journey. When he arrived at 
Piqua, beyond Dayton, he found crowds 
of Indians, men, women, and children, 
principally from the neighboring Shawnee 
villages, who were besieging tho commis- 
sary's and quartermaster's apartments for 
food, blankets, and ammunition. He had 
never before seen such an array of yellow- 
skins, and was gratified to find at the same 
place several companies of mounteil thirty- 
day volunteers, hastening to the frontiers 
after the news of Hull's surrender reached 
Ohio and Kentucky; in company with 



whom be proceeded through tho wilder- 
ness to St. Mary's, distant twenty or thirty 
miles. At that place he met General Har- 
rison on his return from the relief of Fort 
Wayne, after turning over liis command to 
General Winchester, of the regular army. 
The next day and night, in company with 
three or four friends, he made the journey 
to Fort Wayne, distant about sixty miles, 
through an unbroken wilderness, infested 
with hostile savages ; and there found tho 
troops in motion towards Old Fort I^efiance, 
at the junction of the Mnumce and Auglaise 
rivers, and was attached by genei'al orders 
as a cadet to the first regiment of Kentucky 
Volunteers, under Colonel Scott. In this 
capacity he continued to do duty the re- 
mainder of the campaign, going out on all 
scouting-parties, and thus becoming well 
acquainted with the whole surrounding 
country. Some of them were attended 
with great hazard, and all of them witJi 
extra fatigue and hardship, even when com- 
pared with the starved and naked condition 
of all that wing of the army. 

As these events have no doubt long sinco 
passed from the memories of those not im- 
mediately connected with them, and the 
principal history of them, written by Col- 
onel McAfee, is nearly out of print, wo 
take leave to quote from his authentic 
work, " The History of the late War in tho 
Western Country," printed in 181G, the 
following passages, first remarking that tho 
left wing of the north-western army, under 
General Winchester, (General Harrison 
having some weeks before received the ap- 
pointment of Major-General from the Pre- 
sident of the United States, and assumed 
the chief command,) was encamped six 
miles below Old Fort Defiance, on tho 
Maumee : 

"About the first of Novcml)er they liecamo 
extremely sickly. The typhus fever rnged with 
violence, so that sometimes three or four would 
(lie in a day. Upwards of three hundred were 
ilaily on the sick-list; and so diseouras^ing was 
the prospect of advancing, that about the first 
of December thej' were ordered to build lints 
for their aceonmiodation. Many were so entirely 
destitute of shoes and olher clothing, that they 
must have frozen if they had been obliged to 
march any distance; and sometimes the whole 
army would be for many daj's entirely without 
flour." (pp. 18.S-4.) 

"From the 10th to the 22d of this month, 
(December,) the camp was without flour, and 
for some time before they had only half rations ; 
poor beef and hickory roots were tlieir ouly sub- 



6 



GENERAL U«LIE COMBS. 



from General Uarrison, as soou as be liaJ 
accuiimlated twenty days' provisions, to 
ailvauoo to the rapids, forty-four miles 
Icnver down the river than his present camp, 
and to commence buikling huts, to induce 
tiie enemy to believe he was going into 
wintcr-ipiarters. It was indispensable to 
occuj.y the rajiids, the subsequent site of 
Fort Meigs, with a force sufficiently strong 
to protect the provisions, stores, and inun- 
itiijns of war, which were to be forwarded 
from the other wings of the army, located 
at Fort McArthur and Upper Sandusk)', 
]»revious to a contemplated rapid move- 
ment upon Maiden and Detroit, From the 
22d to the 30th of December, active pre- 
parations were being made for this change 
of ]>osition, which was to bring the Ameri- 
can forces so much nearer to the enemy. 
The river being frozen over, they were 
obhged to take the baggage on their backs, 
or on rickety sleds, to be hauled by the 
men, for all their liorses which had not 
been sent into the interior in October or 
November, had starved to death. 

"ir.aving provided for the siek, jind a-asigned 
guar.U to attend and protect them, llie march 
for tlie rajnds was commoiiecd ou tlie 301 li De- 
ocinbor. At tJic same time, Mr. Leslie Combs, 
a young man of intelligence and enterprise from 
Kentucky, who Imd joined the arm}- as a volun- 
teer on its marcii from Fort Wayne to Fort 
l^etiance, accompanied by Mr. A/lliddle, jis a 
guid.', \v!is sent wilii dispatches to inform the 
♦•ommander-in-cliicf (General Harrison) of this 
movement, in oi-der that provisions and rein- 
forcement* might be forwarded as soon as pos- 
Bible. General Winchester exi>ected to be met 
In- these at the raj.ids by tiie 12th of January. 
This, however, was prevented by an immense 
fall of snow, which, as Mr. Combs iiad to tra- 
vci-sc OH fool a j»alhless wilderness of more thau 
one hundred miles in extent, retarded him for 
four or live days longer in reaching even the 
first point of destination, (Fort McArthur,) tliau 
■would otherwise have Ijceii necessary to perform 
the whole route." — McAfee, p. 201. 

Thes(! dispatches consisted of a brief note, 
introducing young Combs to General Har- 
rison, "as a youth whose information as to 
the intended movements of General Win- 
chester could bo entirely relied upon ;" and 
at the same time he was fully pusse.''sed by 
General Win.hesLer, coulideulially, of all 



sistence. At the same time, fevers and other i his intentions, which it was deemed unsafe 
diseases raged in almost every tent, in which to intrust to paper, inasmuch as his journey 
tne sick were exposed not onlv to hunirer, but i ^ i, .i i • j- n i- ^ 

to the inclemency of the seas'on." (Vide pp. ' "^f ^^.^^ through a region hill ot savages, 
185-6.) ' who migiit take his scalp and capture his 

General Winchester had received orders FPefS; Tl^^^se confidential communica- 
tions, intrusted to him alone, and by him 
duly made to General Harrison, enabled 
him, in 1840, to vindicate the old hero of 
Tippecanoe with entire success, before the 
Ameiican people, against the foul asper- 
sion cast upon him by his enemies in refer- 
ence to the subsequent disastrous defeat of 
General Winchester at the river Raisin, on 
the 22d January, 1813. 

What he suttered ou this tramp may be 
' imagined, but cannot well be described. 
lie had been accustomed only to wear his 
sword, afti.'r sending his horse to the in- 
terior, and their daily marching had ceased 
for some two months. He was on this oc- 
casion loaded with a heavy musket and 
accoutrements, in addition to a blanket 
and four days' provisions on his back. The 
snow commenced falling ou the morning 
of the 31st December, and continued with- 
out intermission two days and nights, so 
that on the third day of their journey, 
young Condts and his companion found it 
over two feet deep. They were in a dense 
forest, without path or compass, and only 
guided by the nnening skill of his com- 
panion, who had been some fifteen years 
in early life a captive among the Indians 
in this region, and was well skilled in all 
their ways and customs. Several nights 
they encamped in the black swamp, and 
could not find a place to lie down and rest, 
even on tlie snow, but were compelled to 
sit up all night with a small fire at their 
feet, made of such old brush as they ct)uld 
collect, and, wrapping themselves in their 
blankets, shivering through the long hours 
till daylight enableil them again to resume 
their tiresoiue march. On the si.vth (.la\ . 
their four days' provision was entirely ex- 
hausted, and they had early put them- 
selves on short allowance, Youni; Combs 
was extremely ill nearly all night, so much 
so, that it was concluded that Middle must 
leave him in the morning to his fate, and 
for himself make the best of his way to the 
nearest settlement or fort, and endeavor to 
save Combs, if he should survive till his 
return. Fortimately tor our young volun- 
teer, his natural .strength of constitution, 
and, it may be added, his tinflinchiiig re- 



GENERAL LESLIE COIUBS. 



solution never to stoj) while he could walk, 
overcame his disease, and he kept moving 
for three days and nights longer, without 
a mouthful of food for either himself or his 
comjianion, excejjt slippery elm bark. On 
tlie ninth evening, after dark, they reached 
l^'ort McArthur, then under command of 
General Tupper, 

Every attention was paid to young 
Combs by General Tupper and his staff, 
on his arrival at the head-quarters of that 
general. But his sufferings had been so 
great, that he was i)rostrated for days after- 
wards on a bed of sickness ; as, in addition 
to hunger and fatigue, his feet were badly 
frost-bitten, and his arm joints stiffened 
with rheumatic pains, from which he has 
never since recovered. Being unable to 
proceed to Upper Sandusky, where Gen- 
eral Ilariison was posted, his dispatches 
were conveyed to him, with a brief letter 
from himself, by a special messenger on 
liorseback, the day after his arrival at Fort 
McArthur. 

As soon as it was considered safe for 
him to leave his quarters, he was furnished 
with a sled, two horses, and a driver, and 
proceeded as speedily as possible through 
the snow to the rapids, distant about nine- 
ty or one hundred miles by way of Hull's 
trace, which place he reached on the even- 
ing of the 19th of January, expecting to 
find General Winchester's army encamped 
tliere, as that general had told him he 
would be. Instead of this, he met the 
news of Colonel Lewis's glorious victory 
of the 18th, at river Raisin, over the Bri- 
tish and Indians, thirtv-six miles in ad- 
vance of tiie ra]M<ls, and about twenty 
miles only from Maiden, the head quarters 
of the British army in Upper Canada. 
Disappointed and juortified that a battle 
liad been fought in his absence, and appre- 
hending the speedy recuirence of another 
similar event of a more conclusive charac- 
ter, as General Winchester had himself 
gone on with the flower of his forces that 
morning, to reunforcc Colonel Lewis; with-|: 
out waiting for (reneral Harrison, who was 
expected in a day or two, with a portion 
of the right wing of the army, he deter- 
mined to lose no time in reporting himself 
at head-quarters. Accordingly on the 
20th, in the evening, he set off on foot, 
with his blanket and one day's rations on 
his back, and without his old heavy mus- 



ket, to overtake Major Cotgreve's battalion, 
which was understood to have been hurri- 
ed forward by General Harrison from Low- 
er Sandusky, with two or three pieces of 
light artillery, in the direction of the river 
Raisin. Uo soon accomplished his object, 
as the Maumee was frozen over from shoro 
to shore, and he could travel on the ice 
with much greater rapidity than by land 
through the deep crusted snow. 

With them he found another young 
Kentuckian, with a small pony, loaded 
with his baggage and provisions, proceed- 
ing to join his regiment, from wliich lio 
had been separated for some time. The 
night of the 21st, was bright, clear, and 
beautiful, but intensely cold, with a full 
moon shining ; and at two o'clock his new- 
ly found companion and himself determin- 
ed to make an effort to reach the river 
Raisin before the next night. So anxious 
were they to accomplish this purpose, that 
they forgot for the time their being on 
hostile ground, as recognized by Hull in 
his articles of capitulation, and that there 
were one or two villages intervening be- 
tween them and their point of destination. 
Whether they should encounter in them 
[ friend or foes, and how many murdering 
Pottawatamies might be prowling through 
the forests, were not taken into account ; 
onward they resolved to go, and at all 
hazards. 

After twelve or thirteen hours' laborious 
trudging through the snow and ice, one 
leading and the other driving their little 
half-starved poney; they arrived at a small 
village about ten miles from the river Rai- 
sin, to witness a scene of consternation and 
distress never before presented to their 
view. An American soldier, without hat, 
coat, or shoes, had just arrived from the 
disastrous field of Raisin, with an exagger- 
ated account of that bloody aflair, and the 
whole population were prepaiing to lly 
towards the American army, supposed to 
be approaching under General Harrison, 
by way of the ice on the lake and river. 
While hesitating whether to believe this 
most painful news, and return, or treat it 
as the tale of a coward, and proceed to the 
scene of action, they discovered another 
fugitive in the distant prairie apj^roachin^- 
them, who, on his arrival, confirmed all • 
they liad just lieard, with the additional 
fact, that the Indians were pursuiuf the 



GENERAL LESLIE COMBS. 



Hying troops under Wiucbester and Lewis, 
in the direction towards their present loca- 
tion. In a very short space of time, with 
tlie exception of a few Canadian French- 
men and one family of whom we shall pre- 
sently speak more particularly, the whole 
village was depopulated, leaving houses 
and furniture, barns, grain, stock, every- 
thing but the little bedding, food, and clo- 
thing they could pack on their sleds and 
carryalls, and scudding for life on the ice 
towjirds the rapiils. It was a scene never 
to be forgotten by our young soldier. It 
was the first time he had ever seen war, 
face to face, or rather the effects of war. 
lie had read and thought and dreamed of 
battles and their awful desolations; but 
this miniature likeiiess was his first person- 
al view, and it sickened and saddened his 
lieai-t We will not stop to moralize, but 
])rocoed with our facts.* 

» " Mapsacue of Raisin. — Proctor (Colonel) 
then agreed to receive n surreiulor on the fullow- 
ing terms: that all private property should be 
respected ; that sleds should be sent next morn- 
ing to remove the sick and wounded to Amherst- 
burg, on tlic island opposite Maiden , that in the 
mean time (hcif should be protected by a (funrd ; 
and thaWthe side arms of the oifieei-s should be 
restored to them at Maiden. (Queiy: Why 
were their side arms taken from them at nil, if 
treachery was not contemplated?) . . . About 
12 o'clock, the prisoners were marched off. Di"S. 
Todd and Bowers, of the Kentucky volunteei-s, 
were left Avith the wounded; and Major Rey- 
iiold.^, (an American officer and prisoner also,) 
with two or three interpreters, v)as all the guard 
left to protect them. . . . About sunrise, instead 
of sleds arriving to convey them to Maiden, a 
large body of Indians, perhaps two hundred in 
number, came into the town, painted black and 
red. . . . They began first to iilunder tlie houses 
of the iidiabitauts, and then broke into tlmse 
where the wounded prisoners were lying, some 
of whom they abused and stripped of their 
clothes and blankets, and then tomahawked 
them without mercy. . . . The few who were 
judged able to march, were saved and taken off 
towards Maiden; but as often as any of them 
gave out on the way they were toinaliawkcd and 
left lying on the road. . . . For the massacre al 
the river Raisin, for which any other civilized 
Government would have dismissed, and perliaps 
liave gilibcled the eonunaiider. Colonel Printor 
received the rank of Majoi-General in the Bri- 
tish army. . . Proctor, alt «-r he had left the bat- 
tle-ground, never named tlie guards nor sKds 
whicli he had promised for the wounded Aiii'vi- 
ca7ia ; nor would he ]my any attention to t lie 
subjed, when rcpeatly reniiiulod of it by (len- 
cral Wincbi'ster and jibijor Madison, (prisoners.) 
Caj'tain Klliot (i<i the liritisli army) once npli 
e ' ' ' ' ' ' " ' - 



The Frenchmen above mentioned, young 
Combs understood, were Indian traders; 
and from their knowledge of several Indian 
languages and general friendly intercourse 
with thum, they had remained, with the 
hope of being able to save their finends 
property from the torches of the enraged 
enemy. The family before spoken of con- 
sisted of husband, wife, and five children, 
the largest about twelve years old. They 
were distributed between a small one-horse 
sleigh and an ox-sled loaded with cook- 
ing utensils, food and bedding. The latter 
veldcle could not proceed, as all the rest 
had done, on the ice, because the oxen 
were unshod, and the owner did not know 
that Hull's old road by land back to tho 
Maumee was sufficiently free from obstruc- 
tion to enable him to save his family by 
that route. Fortunately, Coombs and his 
companion had just traveled that way, and 
could assure him of its entire practicability, 
and that, moreover, troops were advancing 
by it at that very time, with whom they 
had encamped the previous night. Ilav- 
ing done thus much, the dictates of ordi- 
nary prudence — the law of self-preserva- 
tion, deemed by some the first law of na- 
ture — might have impelled our young ofti- 
cer and his companion to disencumber 
their pony of his pack, auvl with his aid 
have saved themselves from the much ay- 
preheuded tomahawk and scalping-knifo 
of the Indians, reeking and red as they 
were with the Idood of their gallant asso- 
ciates and friends at Raisin. 

But in the boys' hearts of our youtltful 
adventurers there was a "higher law,'' a 
dull/ which they thought thoy owed to the 
army in their rear, and the helpless family 
in their presence, wdiich induced them to 
give up the pony to the two soldiers, to- 
gether with blankets to protect tliemselves; 
directing them to ride alternately, and 
hasten back to General Harrison with the 
sad tidings they had just communicated 
to them, and which was to blast all his 
chenshed hopes of a succesful invasion of 
Upper Canada that winter. 



verv excellvnt surgeons ! ... Tlie prospect of 
their release, however, was now very gloomy, as 
Pi-oct <ir had issued an order, forbkUlbig individ- 
uals to purchase aug more of thcnt, (the priso- 
ners.) vhile a stipulated price mis still paid for 

_,„.,, , ,, , all (he scalps brought in bg i/ic savages I" — See 

•A to tlieir boliciUUou-', lliat "the Judiau^ tfcn |l McJfee, pp. 210-21. 



GENERAL LESLIE COilBS. 



At tlie same time, tlirowinir their pae]<s 'I frontier as may roiuler tlie personal narra- 



upoii tlie ox-sled, our adventurers started 
the tenified family in the same direction, 
remainini; themselves some distance in the 



tive of the sulijeet of the memoir intelliiri- 
ble. The two flying soldiers to whom Ilens- 
Icy had promptly abandoned his pony at 



rear, to give notice of approicliing danger, ' Comb's suggestion, and determined to 
and as far as possible save the mother «iid I aiil the latter in bringing off the distressed 



her children, if it should come on them- 
selves. 

Young ITensly, his Kentucky compan- 
ion, had a musket; Tessier, their protege, 
had a fusee or shot-gun, and Coombs him- 
self was armed with a sword and belt-pis- 
tols. Their march was of course veiy 
slow ; but it seemed to our ardent young 
officer that he had never before seen oxen 
move witli such a tardy pace. They knew 
not at what moment their ears would be 
saluted with the savage war-whoop in tlieir 
rear. Thus they proceeded till the ix^ad 
was lost in darkness, hoping to meet Ma- 
jor Cotgreve's battalion, and were forced 
to encam]> by the road-side. They watch- 
ed all ni"-lit, one of them actino; as sentinel 



family, had, it seems, communicated to 
Major Cotgreve the same alarming infoma- 
tion they liad given to Combn, " that at 
least five thousand Indian ivarriors were in 
hot pursuit, under Tecura^ch and Dixon^'' 
and thus caused his precipitate retreat. 
They reached General Winchester's old 
camp at the rapids, at which General Harri- 
son, in the mean tim(>, had arrived with a 
•small body-guard early on the 23d, having 
travelled all night, and caused him to aban- 
don the position north of the Maumee, set 
fire to the camp, and fall back to the south 
side of Portage river, some fifteen or twen- 
ty miles nearer the Ohio settlements on 
llull's trace. 

Young Combs followed in his footsteps 



about a hundred paces from the fire, on across the river on the ice, after sundown 



the trace towards Raisin, and at dawn 
they again resumed their slow retreat. 
They had not gone over two or three miles, 
when, instead of meeting an armed band 
which would give them comparative safety, 
tliev found Cotcrreve's bagfo-acfe-sleds and 
artillery abandoned in the road, with all 
the marks of sudden and precipitate flight 



on the 23d, and arrived on the opposite 
side of Portage river on the evcuino; of 
of the 24th, with his small caravan, much. 
\ to the surprise and joy of his friends, w^ho 
had already numbered him among the dead. 
Having been mainly instrumental in saving 
also three of that gallant band of Kentuck- 
ians, who had marched to the frontier some 



"I shall not |u'etend," Combs subseijuently five monthe before, with such devoted pat- 
writes, " to describe our feelings at this un- riotism and buoyant hopes of military glo- 
expected sight ; but thank Heaven we did '! ry, for the first time sinee he met the news 
not abandon our voluntarily assumed |of the disaster, he now felt safe from pur- 
charge, but resolved, come what would, to suit, and gratified more than words could 
save them or perish with them." expi'ess that he had the nerve to do his 

Just before sunset, they came in sight ' duty. 



of the Maumee river, and at the same time 
discovered that Winchester's camp, left in i 
charge of General Payne, some thi'ee or i 
four miles up the river was in flames. At ; 
first they supposed that the British and 
Indians had gotten ahead of them by way 
of the lake and river ice, and had defeated 
the remnant of the left wing of the army 
anil General Harrison's reenforcements, 
and that their own destiny was sealed. 
They were soon releive<l however from 
this painful apprehension, by discovering 
a wounded soldier who had made his es- 
cape by that route, and assured him that 
no enemy had passed him. 

We shall only refer to so much of the mil- 
itary operations about this pericd on that 
2 



The weather had moderated, and the 
rain had been falling all day, so that the 
ice on the river had split near the centre 
and bulged upwards, rendering it ditfieult 
as well as dangerous to cross. But noth- 
ing could stop our voung adventurer's 
friends, when he came in sight, from rush- 
ing across to meet him. Majors Hardin 
and Gano conducted him to head-quarters, 
and introduced him to General Harrison, 
informing him what he had done. "It was 
a proud moment for me," writes Mr. 
Combs, in reference to that sight, " thus 
to be presented : and while he compliment- 
ed me, and said I was worthy of a civic 
ciown, his eyes were moist with tears, and 
mine were not dry. That tear-drop of tho 



10 



GENERAL LESLIE CO^fBS. 



liero of Tippecanoe fell upon my lieart ; ' 
and my untiring support of Lira in 1840, 
wlien Le was a candidate for the Presiden- ] 
cy, cannot be wondered at, althoufi^U my 
first choice then and ever had been HE^•KY 
Clay." 

" I had no time," he continues, " on my 
perilous rt^treat, to weep for my murdered 



er broke up in the spring, the British, hav- 
ing command on the waters, and entire 
possession of Michigan Territory, would 
assail that position. It was of the first 
importance, therefore, to have General 
Ilarrison reenforced as soon as possible, for 
the fall of Fort Meigs would expose the 
whole north-western frontier to fire and 



li-iends and fellow-soldiers at Raisin. My j] desolation. For this purpose. Gen. Green 
eyes were dry and my nerves seemed rigid . Clay, marched from Kentucky, early in 
as iron uutil personal danger was over, and ! April, with two regiments of volunteers, 
all under mv charire in safety." Of over ' takins: the same route which General Win- 



ifety. 

nine hundjod officers and soldiers engaged 
in that disastrous battle, only thirty-three 
escaped ; all the rest were killed on the 
field, mas>ared, or led into captivity. The 
news filled the whole country with the 
deepest grief; Kentucky was clad in 
mourning, and General Harrison himself 



Chester had done. Having made the ne- 
cessary preparations. Combs started him- 
self soon afterwards to rejoin General Har- 
rison at Fort Meigs, as h«^ had promised to 
do, and overtook General Clay at Dayton. 
Totally unprovided as that general was 
with 'maps of the vast wilderness into 



overwhelmed with sorrow and disappoint- ' '.vhich he was about to plunge, the prac- 
ment. Very soon afterwards, the remnant \ tical information which young Combs had 
of the Kentucky regiments engaged in the ! obtained on the previous campaign, as to 
conflict were discharged ; but the subject ji the geography of the countrv, its water- 
of this memoir declined to leave for some ][ courses, newly cut roads, Indian villages, 
time, not knowing that the invasion of " &c., etc., was deemed of much importance ; 
Upper Canada was abandoned for the wiu- j and before the expedition reached Piqua, 
ter, till after Fort Meigs was erected, and ;{ he tendered young Combs the appoint- 
General Harrison himself, in a complimen- luent of CajJtain of Spies, with the priv:- 
tary note, .idvised him of the foct, and per-' lege of selecting his company from Colo- 
mitted hi a to return to Kentucky, with : nel Dudley's regiment. He had not^ ex- 
the expectation of again joining him in the Ipected a position so high or responsible, 
spring with other volunteers. Thus ended ' and felt much diffidence of his ability to 
his first ca:i)paign. f discharge its dangerous duties. 

When he arrived at home, with his ] The next day, another company was or- 
clothes much worn and badly soiled, his 'j gauized in Colonel Boswell's regiment, 
mother met him with a tear and a smile, ', commanded by an old Indian fighter uu- 
remarking in jest, that she was surprised ' der "Wayne, named Kilbreath ; and by 
to see him so soon, as he had told her he [ way of distinction afterwards, our young 
would nnt iv'turn until they had laken Can- ! volunteer was called the hoi/ captain, 
^da. His reply was, " that he had only ^l Their pay was thirty dollars per month ex- 
•corae home to get a clean shirt." And'Ura; and he had no difficulty therefore, in 
she very .SDun found he was in earnest. , *i'li'ig I'is company with active gallant 

The defeat at Raisin, and the discharge , riflemen, but one or two of whom however 
of the remainder of the Kentucky troops, had seen service. 

When they reached St. Mary's block- 
house. General Clay divided his brigade, 



made the situation of General Harrison, 
and the wli')le north-western frontier, ex- 



ev s reiriment across 



tremely nilical. Of our old forts tlu-re 'sending Colonel Dudl ^ _, 
remained in our possession Forts Wayne 1 to the Auglaise river, and descending the 
and Ilanis.-n. Fort Winchester Iiad been Ist. Mary's himself, with Colonel Poswell's, 
.erected ou liie site of old Fort Defiance, | intending to unite them :igain at old Fort 
and Gencial Harrison had built Fort Meigs ! Defiance. Captain Combs was attached 
at the fo't of the Maumoe Rapids, on the to the former; and on their march down 
south side ..f the river. The latter was the ' the Auglaise, an express reached them 
only placi >it all prepared for an attack by from Fort Meigs, with tlie intelligence tb.at 



heavy artillery ; and it was to be expected 
that as hoju as the ice on the lake and riv- 



(ieneral Harrison was in daily expectation 
of an attack, and urging them to proceed 



GENERAL LESLIE COMBS. 



11 



with all possible dispatch. Colonel Dud- daylight the next morning. Placing his 
ley immediately summoned a council of ' Shawance in the stern, with a steering-onr. 
officers to moot at his quarters, whore it and two men at the side-oars, alternately 
was unanimously resolved that General | relieving each other, the Captain took his 
Harrison ought to be apprised of their ap- 'position in the bow, to take care of their 
proach, and his orders, as to the time and ' rifles and direct the course to be pursucvl ; 
manner, received. How this was to be ac- ' keeping as nearly as possible in the centre 
complished was then the question. It was ij of the stream, for fear of Indians on either 
fifty miles from Fort Defiance, where they ''side. By dark they had come within distinct 
expected to meet General Clay, to Fort hearing of the distant roar of heavy artil- 
Meigs ; and it was deemed extremely haz- ' lery in their front, and knew that General 
ardous for any one to attempt to open a Harrison's apprehensions of an early assault 
communication between the two points, !' upon his enfeebled position wore verified, 
especially as no one present, except Cap- }' These sounds were new to their ears and 
tain Combs, knew the exact position of j highly exciting. It was late in the night 
Fort Meigs, or had any knowledge of the ' when they struck the head of the rapid?, 
intervening country. He had 'remained and it seemed every moment as if their light 
silent during the consultation, but now all '[ canoe would be dashed in pieces. By hnng 
eyes were turned upon him, and he felt j flat on his face, the Captain could form some 
bound to speak. " Colonel Dudley," said . idea of the course of the deep channel, amid 
he " General Clay has thought proper to in- '! the war of waters which nearly deafened 
trust me with an important command, at- ' them, by seeing the foaming breakers glist- 
tachod to your regimput. When we reach ' ening in the starlight. When they ap- 
Fort Defiance, if you will furnish me a '' proaced Roche debout, where they were in- 
good canoe, I will carry your dispatches to '[ formed there was a considerable perpendi- 
General Harrison, and return with his or- j[ cular fall in low water, they were forced to 
ders. I shall only require four or five vol- 1! land and haul their bark along the margin 



unteers from my own company, and one 
of my Indian guides to accompany me." 
As may be supposed, his offer was joyful- 
ly accepted, and the Colonel specially 
complimented him for his voluntary pro- 
position, as he said he should have had 
great reluctance in orderinof anv officer 
upon such an expedition. 

The troops encamped at Fort Defiance 
on the afternoon of the first of May. General 
Clay, meanwhile, had not arrived. Captain 
Combs immediately prepared for his peril- 
ous trip. The two Walkers, Paxton, and 
Johnson, where to accompany him, as well 
as the young Shawnee warrior, Black Fish. 
As they pushed oflf from shore at the mouth 
of the Auglaise, the bank was covered with 
their anxious fellow-soldiers ; and Major 
Shelby remarked, looking at his watch, 
"Remember, Captain Combs, if we never 
meet asjain, it is exactly six o'clock when 
we part ;" and he has since told Mr. Combs 



of the southern bank till they had passed 
the main obstruction ; and daylight dawned 
upon them before they were again afloat. 
They Avere still some seven or eight miles 
above the fort, and well knew that the 
surrounding: forests were alive with hostile 
savages. 

AVhen the frightful appearance of the 
swollen river first presented itself to the 
view of our voyagers, one of the men urged 
Captain Combs to land, and endeavor thus 
to get to the fort ; but this plan was not to 
be thou'i'ht of. Three other alternatives re- 
mained to him ; to return and report the 
reason of his failure to go any further ; to 
reraam where he was during the day, and 
make an attempt to enter the fort the next 
night ; or to j^roceed at once. The first plan 
would have been most prudent ; and if he 
' had been an old and experienced officer, of 
established reputation for courage, perhaps 
it ought to have been adopted ; but he was, 
that he never expected to see him again '■ as he has since expressed himself, a mere 
alive. I' hoy, with but little military experience, in- 

Captain Combs would have started some trusted with a most important duty at his 
hours earlier, could his frail craft have been j own instance ; and his aged mother's last 
gotten ready ; for he know it would re- injunction was fresh in his heart, as well as 
quire hard work, even with the aid of a |' in his recolh'Ction; he could not retreat. 
stronfT current, to reach Fort Meiers before '' If he should determine to remain where he 



12 GEXEEAL LE5L1J:: C03IBS. 

was during the day, they would most pro- [| ever, when he raised the wai-whoop, and 
bably be discovered and toinaliawknrd be- they saw the woods full of red devils, run- 
fore night. He therefore resolved imtaully ^ uiug with all their speed to a point on the 
to yo a/ie«(/, desperate as the chances seem- jl river below them, so as to cut them off 
ed against him, and rij-k all consecjueuces. from the fort, or drive them into the mouths 
Not one <jf his brave companions demurred of the Briiish cannon, Caj'tain Combs' 
to iiis determination, although he told them young warrior exclaimed, '' Patiawatamie, 
they would ceitainly be compelled to earcf God damn /" and instantly turned the boat 
their breakfasts before they wuuld have the toward the opposite shore. The race be- 
honor of taking coll'ee with General liar- ^ tween the little water party and the Indians 
rison. j was not long doubful. The latter had the 

No one can well conceive his deep anx- advantage in distance, and reached the 
iety and intense excitement as he was ap- ' point before the former. Combs still b<. pej 
proaching the last bend in the river which \ to pass them with little injury, owing to 
shut the foil from their view. He knew the Midth of the river and the ra]»idity of 
uot but that, after all his risks, he might the current, and therefore ordered his men 
only arrive in time to see the example of to receive their fire without returning it, as 
Ilull imitated, and the white tlag of surren-' he feared an attack also from the near 
der and disgrace hung out from the walls ; j shore, which would require all their means 
but instead of that, as they swept ra}<idly ii of resistance to repel. If successful, he 
around the point, the fiist object that met,: should still have time and space enough 
their sight was the British batteries belch- , to recross the river before he got within 
iuc forth their iron hail across the river, range of the British Batteries, and save his 
and the bouib-.shelis living in the air ; and ; little band from certain destruction. The 
the next moment they saw the glorious stais ', first gun fired, however, satisfied him of his 
and strijies g^dlantly floating in the breeze, error, as the ball whistled over the canoe 
"Oh, it was a grand sceue," writes Captain without injury, followed by a volley, which 
Combs. " We could not suppress a shout ; ; prostrated Johnson, mortally wounded, and 
and one of my men, Paxton, has since de- ■ also disabled Paxtoii ; not, however, before 
clared to me, that he then felt as if it would they had all fired at the crowd, and saw 
take about a peck of bullets to kill him I" |j several tumbling to the ground. Caj>tain 
Captain Combs had prepared eve)ything ; Combs was thus, as a last hope, forced to 
for action, by handing to each man his ritie j run his craft ashore, and attemjit to make 
freshly loaded, and in the meaniime, keep- good his way back 50 miles to Fort Win- 
ing near the middle of the river, which was Chester on the south side of the river. To 
several hundred yards wide, nr.t knowing ; some extent they succeeded. The two 
fiom which side they would be first at- ' Walker's soon left the party, by the Cap- 
tacked, tain's order, to save themselves ; the Indian 

lie hoped that General Harrison might nobly remained with I'axton, and helped 
now and then be taking a luuk Avith his him along for six or seven miles, until he 
spy-hibs up the river, expecting General was so exhausted with the loss of blood as 
Clay, and would see them and send out an '\ to be unable to travel further. Caj)taiu 
escort to brini-- them in. He did nut know Combs was less fortunate with poor Jt>hn- 
that that Cm neral was beleaguered on all son, who, with all his aid, could barely 
sides, and hotly pressed on every point. — drag himself half a mile from their place of 
At first thev saw only a solitary Indian in landing, and both he and Paxton were soon 
the edge of the woods on the American captured and taken to General Proctor's 
side, runniiii; down the river so as t«j get in head-ipiarters. They even reported, as was 
hail of tlKMu ; and they took him lor a afterwards learned, that they hatl killed 
friendly Sliasvaiiee, of whom they knew the Captain, and showed as evidence of the 
General Harrison had several in his service fact his elotli coat, which he had thrown ofi', 
as guides and spies. His steersmrin himself , putting on in its stead an old hunting-shirt, 
was for H nnnnenl tleceived, and exclinied, after he had left Johnson, so as to disincum- 



iii his deep guttural V(jice, ' Sliawanee," at 
the same time turning the bow of the canoe 
towards him. A moment aflei wards, how- 



ber himself of all surplus weight. His wood- 
craft, learned in the previous campaign, 
now did him good service, as it enabled 



GENERAL LESLIE COMBS. 



13 



him to eluile his pursuers ; and after two ■' ohnnce to do soinethiiicj to make up for 
da3-s and nights of starvation and suffering, j all his previous sufferings and misfortunes; 
he again nK't Major Sliolhy and his other ' and he forgot every bodily pain. In a 



friends, at tln' month of the Auglaise, on tlie 
fourth of Jfay, in the morning, after all hope 
of his return had been given up. The two 
Walkers were a day ahead of him, and his 
brave young Indian succeeded in making 
his wav to his native village, 



f'^w moments he was on his f<jet, dressed. 
He was received with a glad shout at the 
h(.'ad of the vanguanl, and commenced 
the march in front of th*^ left flank, towards 
the enemy. Colonel Dudley himself led 
the attackinir column, anrl captured the 



Tlie historian McAfee, page 204, in ' batteries from tlie rear, without the loss of 
speaking of another expedition of a some-'|a man. "The liritish I'ag was cut down, 
what similar charater, subsequetly under-i and the shouts of the American garrison 
taken by Major Trimble, at the instan<-.? of; announced their joy at this consummation 
General Clav, thus abides to the above: — ii of their wishes. General Harrison was 
"To penetrate to the o:vmp (Fort Meig*) thusN''i"'^'°g »» the grand battery next the' 
exposed in an open boat, was deemed extremely ij nver, and now called to the men and made 
hazardous. Such an attempt had ah-eady l>een i signs to them to retreat to their boats and 
made by Captain Leslie Combs, who was sent jl eross over, as he had nrevionslr ordered 
down in a eaiioe with five or six men bv Colonel I' .1,^^ i i. ii • • 'n itr aj:^ 

1-, 1, ,■ • \ ^^^ a Ti ■ r- * • tliem, but ail m vam. — McAfee, piv/e 

Dudley, on Ins arrival at Denanee. llicCaptinn i . ' j i i J 

had reached within a mile of the fort, wlu-u lie 



was attacked by t]\e Indians and compelled to 
7'etread, after bravely eontendin<r with supei'ior 
numbere till he had lost nearlv all his men." 



them, but all in vain." 
1270. 

! Just before the batteries were taken, a 
\ body of Indians lying in ambush had fired 
upon Captain Combs' command, and shot 
Captain Combs' mouth and throat w^re " down several of his men. He immediately 
excoriated by eating bitter hickory buds. ! formed in front of them, posting Captain 
and nothi-ng else, for the last forty-eight'; Kilbreath on the left flank, while he him- 
hours. His feet were dreadfully lacerated I self occupied the riglit, and maintained his 
by travelling in moccasins through burnt ' ground till re-enforced by C-^'lunrd Dudley, 
praries, and his body and limbs were all •. who felt the necessity of bringing him off 
over sore and chafed by constant exorcise ' the ground, inasmuch as he had given him 



in wet clothes, as he was compelled to swim 
several swollen creeks, and it was rainino; 
part of the time most violently. In this 
situation he was ordered to bed in one of 
the boats just preparing to descend the 
river with General Clay's bricfade. 



no orders to retreat, and had determined 
not to sacrifice him. Captain Kilbreath 
was killed at his post, and Captain Combs 
was slightly touched by a ball before he 
received anj"- assistance. They soon after 
routed the enemy, an<l pursued them by 



He could not for days afterwards eat '^ successive cliarges of bavonet some two or 
any solid food, and yet early next morning [; three miles through the swamp. In the 
he found they were making a landing, just I meantime the British had retaken their 
above the scene of his disaster four days be- 'I batteries, and driven off r>ur left column, 
fore, and that the two companies of spies ij which had been left to guard them. The 
and thefriendly Indian warriors were para- !' Indians, two, were largely re-enforced, and 
ded on the beach, seemingly waiting for ] were trying to surround the American de- 
him to come, although the suitreon had told '' tachment, or, at any rate, tn cut them off 
them he was unable to leave liis pallet, from their boats. Under these circura- 
• Colonel Dudley's regiment was soon all [ stances, a retreat was ordered, with direc- 
landed and formed in three lines, prepara- tions again to form at the batteries, it not 
tory to an early engagement Avith the ene-j then being known to the party that they 
my, and Captain Combs was informed that ' had been retaken. As had been the case 
the spies were to constitute the vanguard. !' at Raisin, and wall ever be repeated with 



A battle — a real battle — was to be fought 1 
delightful thoucjlit! The British batteries 
were to be stormed and destroyed, while 
General Harrison Avas assaulting the In- 
dians and their allies on the opposite side 
of the river. At last he would have a 



raw troops, the retreat caused much disor- 
der and confusion, and cost the Americans 
most dearly, for many of the wounded were 
now tomahawked and scalped ; amonjj them 
[ their brave, unfortunate commander. Colo- 
nel Dudley. Captain Combs' position threw 



14 



GENERAL LESLIE COJFBS. 



him in the rear in this movement, and, al- u by his Indian confederates, was afterwards 
though severely wounded in the sLoulder ..dismissed from the British army for his 
hy a ball, which remained lodged in his .. disgraceful flight from General Harrison 
body, and bleeding profusely, he was ena- ; and rctrihutite justice, at the battle of the 
bled uuw and then to make a rally and .i Thames. 

di-ivo back the painted devils, when they ,1 Immediately on the surrender of each 
would be rushing up too closely upon his successive squad or indindual, as they ar- 
commaud. lie had no idea that those in ; rived at the batteries, they weie marched 



front of him had surrendered, until he 
found himself in the midst of the British 
regulars, and trampling on the thrown- 
away arms of the Kentucky troops. And 
here and thus his long-desired battle ended 
— a second river liaisin bloody massacre * 



oft' in single file down the river towards the 
British head-quarters near old Fort Mau- 
mee, then in a very dilapidated condition, 
having been given up to us and abandoned 
shortly after Wayne's victory, some twen- 
ty yeai-s before that time. Very soon the 



The brilliant early history of an Alexan- ,, ludian warriors, fresh from the conflict, (in 
der and a Napoleon, which had ever vividly || some instances, boys and squaws,) corn- 



floated in his mind in glorions visions asi 
to his own unaided military career, wei'e i 
nuw exchanged for the agoniziug reality of | 
a prisoner of war ; and yet he had not half, 
reached the goal of torturing exposure j 
which the afiernoou of that dreadful day , 
was to bring upon him 



menced the operation of insulting and 
plundering the prisoners. A grim indian 
on horseback, painted black and red in 
alternate rings aiound his eyes, rode up to 
Captain Combs and snatched his hat trom 
his head. Soon afterwards, another rushed 
upon him, and, regardless of his pain, tore 



The pen of the historian has long since L his coat from his back, tearing loose at the 
given to the world some of the leading same time the bandages with which his 
events to which we refer, and they have, 1 brother had bound up his bleeiling shoulder, 
perhaps, passed from the memoiy of the || Others robbed him of what little mony he 
reader; but we do not recollect ever to j had in his pockets, not sparing even a small 



have seen an authentic account published 
from any one of the unfortunate captives, 
and shall, therefore proceed to give in sub- 
stance that of Captain Leslie Combs. Gen- 



peukcife and pocket-comb. In one in- 
stance, when he had nearly arrived at the 
old fort, and a " develish-looking fellow" 
was handling him very roughly — the more 



eral Proctor, who owed his elevation from : so, perhaps, as his honest intentions upon 
a colonelcy to a previous victory, stained l the captive were unrewarded, in couse- 
by the most revolting atrocities, and who 1 queuce of his having been previously 
witnessed, if not j)ermitted those horrid at- 1 cleaned out — a good-looking Canadian 
rocities committed on the present occasion non-commissioned oflScer, as the Captain 

jl judged from his dress, interfered for his 

*"Tlie prisoners were taken d<'wu to the :> piotectioii, and lost his life for his humani- 
Piiti.h hcM.l-.,uart,r5, put int.. F-M-t Miami. n:i.l ^ ^ij^ Captain was hurried onwards, 

tlie IiKtinns pcniiitted to ciirri^on the surrouuU- !l "^ i i 1 1 1 1 1 11 

ins rampart, and amuse themselves bv loaJin- , and suddenly observed as he approached 
uii.l tiling' lit tliL- er.-wd, or nt any paitieular in- 1 the fort, a uuuioer^of painted warriors 
Ji\idiml. TliH.-i.- wiio jiiel'envd to inflict a still, ranged on each sido of the pass-way from 
m.-re cruel nud savage death, srleetcd their vi.> i\^^ opening of a triangular ditch in front, 

tiras, led them to the fratewnv. "'"i tliere, 7inil>r\ , ,., , ,;,.»,- 4' ,♦ ., ,s. ... »^ <1,^ 11 ,..♦ ,„.,.r 
,, ' J.,, ; D ^ J • ii ii some si.\t\ leet or more to tlie oM gateway 

the eiicof (riniral r'roctor, and tn th'- presence \[ ^ , ■,•.•• 1 -^ -i , 

of ihe\,l,ole British arrny, <a»naA.i,/le(/ a»,/ 1 "I "le main lortifacation ; and on either side 
scalped thi ml . . . A'i soon a.'. Tccumseh jj and among them Were lying prostrate in the 
beheld it, [the carnnge,] he flourished his sw.r.l, , mud a number of human bodies, entirely 

naked, and in all the ghastliness of violent 
deaths produced by the war-club, the tom- 
ahawk, and the scalping-knife. Never be- 
fore had our cajitivo seen such a horrid 
sight. A man would not bo able to re- 
cognize his own father or brother after the 
scalp had thus been torn from his head, 
hia whole countenance would be so distor- 



aiid, in a lend voice, ordered them "for shame 
to desist. It is II disixrace to kill a defenceless 
prisoner." His orders were ol)eyed, to the 
preat joy of the prisoners, who iiad by this time, 
lost all nojiesof heini; |>rcscrved. In this single 
act, Tecuuisch ilisjijayed more humanity, niair- , 
I! mimity, aiid civilization, than Proctor, with] 
nil liis British associates in eonunand, displayed [ 
in tiio whole war on the north-westeru Iron- 1 
tier.' '—McA/ct pp. 27 1 -2. ( 



GENERAL LESLIE COMBS. 



15 



ted and unnatural. There was some poe- 
tiy in the great excitement of mortal strife 
and skill in open battle, when all were 
armed with deadly weapons ; but here the 
prisoners were nearly naked, with a chilling, 
rain and fierce bail beating upon them for 
the last hour, and totally defenceless, in 
the midst of infuriated foes bent on their 
destruction. There was not the slightest 
poetic thought in our captive's head ; all 
now was matter-of-foct — real prose. He 
felt very uncomfortable, and decidedly 
averse to proceeding any farther, and so 
notified an English soldier near him ; but 
he replied that there was no alternative, 
and urged the prisoner forward. During 
this brief delay, the prisoner in his rear 
stepped before him, and in another moment 
the work of death was done upon him. 
He was shot down with a pistol in the 
hands of the first black fiend on the left 
side of the terrific gauntlet, and fell across 
the track, which was all the way slipprey 
with fresh shed blood. Our captain len]i- 
ed over his bodv, and ran throu2;h into the 
fort tinhurt, and found himself at once in 
the midst of several hundred of his fellow- 
sufterers, who had been equally fortunate. 
They were surrounded by a small British 
guard ; but, thank Heaven I no more Indians 
Avere in sight. "Whether it was our Cap- 
tain's youthful apjiearance, his bloody shirt, 
or mere savage tancy that saved him, he 
did not know, nor stop to inquire. He 
again felt safe from cold-blooded massacit, 
whatever else miii-ht befall him. He was 
left to indulge this pleasant delusion for a 
few short minutes. Very soon, however, 
after the last prisoner had followed him in, 
by which time it seems the Indian hosts 
who had driven them into the net of the 
British had assembled around the prison- 
ers' unsafe temporary habitation, they at 
once demanded tliat the latter should be 
given up to them ; and being refused, they 
simultaneouslv broke in the old crumbling 
walls of the fort, and surrounded them on 
all sides, giving utterance at the same time 
to the dreaded war-whoop. 

When the prisonei-s first entered tbe old 
fort, they were ordered to sit down, for 
fear the Indians would fire on them over 
the walls, whii:h had crumbled down and 
were very low in some places. But as soon 
as the savages had burst in upon them, 
they all instantly rose to their feet, and an 



old friend near Captain Combs proposed 
that they should attempt to break through 
the enemy and get to the river. Captain 
Combs showed him his crippled slioulder 
by way of reply, and he afterwards told 
the Captain that he himself could not swim, 
but [ireferred drowning to death by the 
tomahawk and scalping-knife, and presum- 
ed the Captain would also. 

The guard quieted their approbensions 
for a short time, until a tall, I'aw-boned 
Indian, painted black, commenced shooting, 
tomahawking, and scalping the prisoners 
nearest to him, and could not be stopped 
until he had thus dispatched and mutilat- 
ed /oiir, wliose reeking scalps were immedi- 
ately seen ornamenting his waist-belt. One 
of these was a private in Combs' own com- 
pany, who fell so near the Captain that his 
blood and brains sprinkled his clothes. 
' The shrieks of these men in their dying 
agonies seemed for months afterwards to 
ring in his ears, and the crushing in of tbeir 
' skulls by the repeated blows of the war- 
club was most horrid. 

At this time, too, the immense mass of 
I Indians around the prisoners again raised 
the war-whoop and commenced throwing 
off the skin caps which protected the locks 
of their guns, preparatory for immediate 
use. The unfortunate captives then firmly 
believed their time had come ; and they 
prepared to sell their lives as dearly as pos- 
sible. There was a rush towards the centre, 
with a cry of terror, the guard calling as 
loudly as possible for General Proctor or 
Colonel Elliott to come in, or all the pri- 
soners would be murdered. At this criti- 
cal juncture, a noble looking Indian, un- 
painted, dressed in a hunting-shirt or frock- 
coat and hat or cap, came striding briskly 
into the midst of the surrounding savages, 
and, taking his position on the highest 
point of the wall, made a brief but most 
emphatic address. Combs could not un- 
derstand a word of what he said ; but it 
seemed to receive the general assent of the 
Indians, as was indicated by their grunts 
and gestures, and he knew from his man- 
ner that he was on the side of mercy. The 
black devil only, who had just committed 
the four murders, growled and shook his 
head ; but upon receiving a stern look and 
apparent positive command from tbe 
speaker, whirled on his heel and departed, 
mucb to the general joy of the prisoners, 



16 



GENERAL LESLIE CO^IBS. 



as it convinced thvm that the orator had j 
power as woU as eloquence. The next <lay 
Captain Combs asked of a British oflaeer 
the name of the Indian who had thus in- 
terfered and saved them. He replied : "It 
was Tecumseh."* 

"It was the first and last time," Mr. 
Combs afterwards writes, " I saw tliis i,'rcat 
T.'arrior. Since the days of King I'hilip, 
no single Indian had ever possessed so much 
power over his race; for, from the Capes 
of Florida to the Lake of the Woods, he 
iiad been able to produce one simultaneous 
uprising of the tribes against us, in the war 
with Great lUitain. And yet I do not 
think, judging by his appearance, he could 
at that time have passed his fortieth year. 
When aft<rwards I heard of his untimely 
death at thu battle of the Thames, whih- 
attempting to urge forward his forces, and 
regain the battle which Proctor's cowardly 
flight had lost, I could not repress a sigh 
of regret, a feeling in which 1 doubt not 
all of my companions on the bloody fifth 
of May participated." 

" The prisoners," says McAfee, page 2*72, 
" were kept in the same place (the old fort) 
till dark, during which time the wounded 
experienced tlie most excruciating torments. 
They were then taken into the British 
boats, and carried down the river to the 
l>rig Iluntor and a schooner, where several 
hundreds of them were stowed away in the 
hold of the biig, and kept there for two 
days and nights," without, we are assured 
on the authority of Mr. Combs, either food 
or bedding of any kind for the wounded, 
or the slightest surgical attention. 

Fortunately for himself. Captain Combs 
was on board the schooner, which was less 
crowded than the brig, and had the ball 
extracted from his shoulder liy a British 
surgeon early the next morning; and, as 
soon as his name and rank were known, 
he was invited into the Captain's cabin, 
and treated Avith marked atteutidu and po- 
liteness. It was there he lenrued that the 
party which had defeated him on his for- 
lorn tri]> had borne back his uniform-coat 
in triumph, which was recognized by Pax- 
ton, and they asserted they had killed the 
wearer, slu'wing sohie recent rents, which 
they averied were bullet-holes. Paxton 
himself, whom Captain Combs found on 

■•McAfee, pp. 271-2, as quoted in a former note. | 



board, believed he was dead, as he last 
saw him with the coat on his back. 

The prisoners were finally liberated on 
parole, and sent across the lake in open 
boats to the moutli of the Huron river, 
with a wilderness of some foity or fifty 
miles between them and the nearest settle- 
ment in Ohio, at Mansfield. Captain Combs 
had neither hat nor coat, and did not ex- 
change his shirt, although covered with 
mud and blood, till he rctaehed the town 
uf Lancaster. There they were all decently 
clad, and most kindly entertained by the 
citizens. 

Late in May, he again reached his father's 
humble farm in Clarke county, and soon 
afterwards was sent to McAllister's school, 
near Bardstown, to improve his somewhat 
neglected education. It was a year or two 
before he was notified of his exdiange ; and 
in the meantime he had commenced the 
study of the law, which was to be his means 
of livelihood through life. 

Whether it was in his blood, or that he 
took the disease in his early boyhooi] from 
hearing his father talk of his revolutionary 
services and Indian "scrimmages," certain 
it is that, long before he arrived at man- 
hood, Combs used to feel as young Xorval 
did, while with his father on the Grampian 
hills, an humble swain — an anxious desire 
for military renown. " I am not even yet," 
he writes, " entirely cured of the disease, 
and have all ray life, till within tlie last 
k-w years, devoted a portion of my time to 
military tactics, in training the militia, 
having long since reached the highest 
grade. At the first tap of the drum, I in- 
stinctively catch the step, and keep it as 
long as the music reaches my ear." 

When the Mexicans were invading Texas 
in 1830, '7 and '8, and General Gaines was 
posted on our south-western frontier, 
which was considered in some danger, he 
i-alleil uiion Kentucky for help. The Gov- 
ernor immediately gave General Combs 
authority to raise ten comj\'unes, and march 
to his relief. He accordingly issued his 
proclamation, and had the otfer of more 
than Ibrty volunteer companies in a very 
short time. He selected ten, formed them 
into a regiment, and was ready to embark 
from Louisville, when the President of the 
United States countermanded the order, 
and they were discharged. 

So, too, ten years afterwards, when 



GENERAL LESLIE COMBS. 



n 



rumors reaclieJ us tliat General Taylor 
was in front of a Mexican force, on tlio Rio 
Grande, of more than double his strength 
in point of nuinbeis, and Congivss had 
authorized the President to receive the ser- 
vices of fifty thousand volunteers, General 
Combs issued his general orders, cominand- 
ino- all the re<;iinents under his connnaiid to 
assemble at their several places of annual 
parade, to see what could be done. The 
following is an extract from that order, 
dated May 18, 184G: 

" The Major-Genernl does not doubt that the 
same nolilc t^pirit wliieh j)reoii>i(ateJ the galhiiit 
sons of Kentucky u]iou every tVontier wliere an 
enemy was to lie totind, ilnrinLT tlie late war, 
will again niiinnite his fellow soldiers; and he 
calls upon them, in the name of liberty and pa- 
triotism, to hasten to the rescue of the American 
arm\' on the Rio Grande, to shaie their vic- 
tories, or avenge their disasters, if any have be- 
fallen them." 

Several regiments of volunteers were 
soon enrolled, and it was supposed by all 
that the command would be given to Gen- 
eral Combs. L>ut such was not the case. 
He was not in favor at Washington ; and, 
although his proclamation was rejiublished 
in the "Union," and his energy and patriot- 
ism every where complimented, none but 
political partisans were appointed to high 
oflices ; si:)me of who«n were made generals, 
who had never " set a squadron in the 
field," nor were fit to do it. The Con- 
stitution of the United States was, in 
the opinion of General Combs, violated by 
depriving the States of the right to officer 
their own militia; and he was overlooked 
and superseded. Again, although opposed 
to the annexation of Texas, as proposed 
and finally consummated, yet, when war 
was declared, he desired to see it speedily 
fought out, and terminated by an honoi- 
able peace. lie, therefore, again made an 
eflort to be employed in the military ser- 
vice, and, with this view, addressed a let- 
ter to the President, when more volunteei's 
were called for, offering to raise a full 
division, if he would only allow those who 
were willing to risk their lives for their 
country to choose their own officers. lie 
even went to "Washington, and renewed 
the offer in person to the President and 
Secretary of War; but it was declined! 
I^olitely, yet positively. Ilis remonstrances j 
on the occasion were in plain English, as; 
may be remembered, for they formed the j 



subject of remark by the public press at 
the time, and very likely Mr. Marcy has 
not entirely forgotten them. No one was 
present at their brief interview in his office. 
General CoujIs soon afterwards resijrned 
his office, in consequence of the gross in- 
justice which he felt had been done him. 
He would not consent to be treated as a 
mere recruiting-sergeant to raise troops for 
those whom he regarded as party pets, 
without military experience or a})titude to 
command in the field. 

Having risen from tlie ranks to the office 
of captain in two cam])aigs, witlmut the aid 
of friends or foitune, by repeated acts of 
self-devotion, Leslie Combs had returned 
home naked and penniless, a cripple for 
life. Yet he did not apply for a pension 
from the War Office, as did others — even 
Colonel Johnson who received his in full. 
When urged to do so, he replieil, that his 
blood was as red, and shed as freely, as that 
of Colonel (afterwards Governor) Preston, 
of Virginia ; and that, poor as he was, he 
would never recive a pension unless grant- 
ed freely by special act of Congress, as had 
been done in Colonel Preston's case. But 
he had no friend at court ; and no member 
of Congress looked into the matter for 
twenty years, when Mr. Allen, of the Lex- 
ington (Mr. Combs') district took it in hand, 
and the result was a report in fovor of 
granting the pension. A bill was then, and 
not till then, passed by Congress, unani- 
mously, we believe, in both Houses, which 
was approved by President Jackson, giving 
him a pension //-om that date — half-pay for 
life — but nothing for the past. 

By the aid of a relative, who allowed 
him the gratuitous use of his office and 
books, he studied law, and obtained a 
license as an attorney at the age of twenty- 
three, and immediately went to hai'd woi'k. 
Although far from being as well versed in 
his profession as he felt he ought to have 
been, his energy, industry, and punctuality 
soou procured him a large share of busi- 
ness, and enabled him to marry, and take 
upon himself the responsibility of a family. 

This was his situation Avhen the great 
effort was made in Kentucky to destroy 
Hexky Clay, because he voted for Mr. 
Adams for President. His enemies in the 
Lexington district, and especially in Fayette 
county, were most violent and Litter in de- 
nouncing liim; and at one time, in 182G, 



18 



GENERAL LESLIE COMBS. 



thought they coulJ at the uext election cer- 
tainly carry the county against him ; their 
leader, General MoCalla, hanng only failed 
by some nine or ten votes at the previous 
election. It was under these circuinstauces 
tliat Mr. Combs was urged to become a 
candidate for the Lr^gislature. From his 
early boyhood he had been devoted in feel- 
ing to that illustrious man, looking upon 
him, as he ever since has done, as the 
*' foremost man of the age," as well as the 
most vilely pursued, persecuted and calura- 
uiated by his enemies. Although, in a man- 
ner a stranger to him — for Combs' youth 
and Mr. Clay's almost continued absence 
from Kentucky in the public sei-yice, had 
given the latter no opportunity to know 
the former except as a passing acquaint- 
ance — Mr. Combs determined to enter up< m 
his defense and support ; and for three sec- 
cessive years he canvassed the county 
from end to end, meeting Mr. Clay's ene- 
mies every where before the people ; lite- 
rally taking his lileiu his hand, and defying 
them. The first year he was elected by 
nearly one hundred majority, and the last 
by about five hundred ; thus placing the 
party in an impregnable majority. He then 
returned to his profession, and soon not 
only regained his lost chants, but also ob- 
tained many new ones. 

But it was contrary to Mr. Combs' nature 
to be an idler, or an humble follower of 
any raa:i. AYlieu, therefore, he entered 
upon the public service, he went earnestly 
to work, as he had previously done in his 
profession. KentucKy was at that time 
flooded with a depreciated paper currency, 
worth ab('Ut fifty cents to the dollar, issueil 
by the " Bank of the Commonwealth," an 
institution which owed its oriinn to what 
was then called the "Relief" party, and 
which afterward became the Democratic or 
Loco-foco party in that State. Of public 
improvements, the State could boast none; 
there were not five miles of turnpike-road 
within her wide borders ; a railroad had 
not even been ihouirht of west of the moun- 
tarns. As Chairman of the Committee vf 
Finance, at the second or thirtl session of 
his meuibersliip, he digested and reportcl 
a bill, which, after a severe struggle, and 
some slight modification, suggest<jd by Mr. 
James Guthrie, became a law, providing 
for the winding up, gradually and wiiliout 
oppression J of the whole paper system ; 



and no attempt has since been made to 
renew it. 

lie also devoted himself to the cause of 
internal improvement, advocating turnpike 
charters, and proposing the firet one for a 
railroad, when even Massachusetts could 
only boast of one, some four miles long, 
from the granite quarries to Boston. 

lie was again a member of the Legisla- 
ture in 1833-4, and, as Chairman of the 
Committee on Internal Improven^ents, re- 
ported a volume of bills, under whose salu- 
tary influence that i^ble State has ever 
since been rapidly rising in wealth, com- 
fort, and power. His means, too, were 
freely contributed in taking stock ; all of 
which has since been bestowed upon a 
public library in Lexington. 

He was not again a candidate until 
1845, when he was chosen without the 
trouble of a canvass, and was at that ses- 
sion elected Speaker of the House of Re- 
presentatives. The next yeai his name was 
again presented for the same office by a 
large majority of the "Whigs of the Legisla- 
ture, but he positivery declined to have it 
used, inasmuch as there were several highly 
promising young "Whigs who desired it, 
and he was satisfied with the honor pre- 
viously enjoyed. He has not since been a 
candidate for any State ofiice. 

Mr. Combs never asked for an executive 
appointment of any kind in his life, having 
an utter disgust to office-seeking, and 
being wholly averse in feeling to such self- 
abasement as is generally necessary to ob- 
tain favor at court. 

His first demonstration as a politician 
and public speaker on a national scale was 
at the Harrisburir "Whi^ Convention, ia 
1840, when Governor Metcalf and himself 
weie the delegates for the State at large, 
from Kentucky. They were very desirous 
for Mr. Clay's nomination ; and it was, in 
Mr. Climbs' opinion, by a most unfortunate 
combination of circumst.ances and indivi- 
duals, that his nomination was defeated. 
His never-to-be-forgotten, self-sacrificing 
letter to the Convention, had been handed 
to Mr. Combs by Mr. Archer, of "S'irgini.- •, 
and after General Harrison's nomination, 
he rea«l it to th.at body, with a heart full 
of sorrow and disappointment. The whole 
country was taken by surprise, and a largo 
[>ortion of the AVliig party shocked by the 
injustice done to their great leader. 



GENERAL LESLIE COMBS. 



19 



He had kept Mr. Clay fully advisod of 
every stop taken, of every liopo ami fear 
wLicli be entertained, up to the final con- 
summation of the combined efforts of G<-ik'- 
ral Harrison, General Scott, and Mr. "\Vc-l>- 
ster, which finally defeated him. lie be- 
lieved then, and has never doubted since 
the election, that Mr. Clay couM easily 
have triumphed over Mr. VanBuren. The 
jieople were tired, sick to death of his 
heartless selfishness and evident incompe- 
tency, and a change was inevitable. And 
what a blessing it would have been to the 
country to have had Henry Clay President 
for the succeeding four or eight years, 
instead of Tyler or Folk! "We need not 
dwell upon the facts ofhistory,andthe inia- 
o-ininirs of such a contrast. 

Although Mr. Combs' first and only 
choice had been defeated in the Conven- 
tion, anil by moans which he boldly con- 
demned, still, as his old commander, Gene- 
ral Ilarrison, a true patriot and an hono- 
rable man, had been nominated, he deter- 
mined at once on his course. lie felt that 
he owed a duty to the Whig party, to the 
country, to a gallant old soldier, under 
whose commanil he had suffered many 
hardships, and had shed his blood on the 
field of battle ; and he resolved to devote 
himself to the cominof canvass. 

LLis first public address was in Philadel- 
phia, to an immense multitude, the Mon- 
day nio;ht succeedinof the nomination. All 
knew his devotion to Henry Clay, and were 
therefore anxious to hear what he had to 
say for General Harrison. He had nume- 
rous clients in the crowd, who had known 
him fur many years as an energetic, prompt, 
and vigilant attorney, but never dreamed 
that ho had once been a soldier. "I shall 
never forget their evident astonishment," 
says Mr. Combs, "when I took up the 
military life of the hero of Tippecanoe, and 
spoke of its leading events as familiarly as 
if they had been the events of yesterday. 
I knew that he had been assailed as the 
cause of the defeat of Winchester at Fvaisin, 
and of Dudly at the Rapids; and my vindi- 
cation of him from these two charges was 
overwhelming and conclusive. I had been 
so connected with both of these disastrous 
events, as to render my testimony irrefut- 
able." 

From that time until the succeding No- 
vember, he almost gave up his profession ; 



and from New York to New Orleans, from 
Kentucky, through Tennessee and Virginia, 
to Delaware, was day after day addressing 
large multitudes. His dross was a simple 
hunting shirt and sash, such as General 
Harrison wore at the battle of Tippecanoe, 
au'l when he first saw him afterwards ; such 
as his father had worn when he helped 
Daniel Boone to drive the Indians out of 
Kentucky, and such as the volunteers gene- 
rally woio when they marched to the fron- 
tiers during the late war. 

The Whig press ever}'where teemed 
with the hialiest-wrought euloo-ies of his 
speeches, and its applause might havo 
turned the head of a man prompted by 
less high and holy feelings than those which 
influenced him. As it was, they seem only 
to have stimulated him to still higher efforts. 
He spoke on the battlements of \ orktown 
on the aniversaiy of the surrender of Corn- 
wallis, with Seargent, and Upshur, and 
Wise; at Lynchburgh, a few days after- 
wards, with Kives, and Leigh, and Preston ; 
at Richmond on three several nights, the 
last time to some thousand ladies. Thou- 
sands of living witnesses still remain to at- 
\ test the effects of his addresses ; while the 
files of the Richmond Whig of that day, 
then edited by the talented and lamented 
^ Pleasants, bear testimony to the character 
' and effect of these appeals. 
' The election over, and General Harrison 
, President, General Combs asked for no- 
thing, and nothing was offered to him, 
while hundreds, who had rendered com- 
paratively but little service, were clamorous 
for reward, and some of them received high 
offices. The real champion of the conflict 
! — he whose morning bugle had often 
roused a thousand men to arms, and who 
', never wearied, day or night, in doing his 
duty till the victory was won — was for- 
gotten in the hour of triumph, while others 
stepped forward and enjoyed the fruits of 
' the victory. 

I If Peter the Hermit felt the inspiration 
of his holy cause when preaching a crusade 
against the infidels in possession of Jerusa- 
lem, so did Mr. Combs in his against the 
corruptions and usurpations of power in 
the city of Washington. All selfishness 
was absorbed in his burning desire to drive 
' the Goths from the Capitol ; and he valued 
more highly the outpourings of public ap- 
probation which every where greeted bis 



20 



GEXEHAL LESLIE COMFIS. 



efforts, than he would have done any offi- 
cial pobiti-iu whicli could have been otier- 
ed hira. The noble-hearted Whigs of little 
Delaware presented him with a most sub- 
stantial evidenee of their confidence and 
gratitude, by the presentation of a magnifi- 
cent piece of plate, with the following in- 
scription : 

"To General Leslie Combs, of Kentucky, from 
ft mimber of his Democratic Whig frien<l3 of 
Newca-xtle county, Delaware, in t'-stimony of 
their hitrli regard fur liiin as a j>atrii)t amt sol- 
dier in tiie North wi'.itern eamjiaiirn of lal'l and 
'13, whilst yet a youth, ami a.s the able ami elo- 
quent vindicator of his ohl deueral, the hero of 
Tippecanoe anil the Thames, in the political 
campaign of 1810." 

Four years afterwards, when the former 
of Ashlan<l receiveil the nomination of the 
Baltimore Convention, he again took the 
field, although he knew that he would 
thereby lose a large portion of his remain- 
ing clients and business, which had become 
more important to him from pecuniarj- 
embarrasement, induced by large invest- 
ments in the Texan War Debt. After 
canvassing a large portion of Kentucky, 
previous to the August election, he direct- 
ed himself, during the months of Septem- 
ber, October, and November, to Virginia, 
Pennsylvania, and New York. 

He made a rapid passage through Vir- 
ginia, from Abingdon, by way of Lynch- 
burg, Richmond, and Yorktown, to Nor- 
folk, arousing the Whigs everywhere, and 
urging the Democrats to stand by their 
noblest son, towering as he did in fame 
and public semces as high above his com- 
petitor as the peaks of the Alleghanies 
above the mole-hills at their base. But all 
in vain. They were wedded to their idol, 
raod<rn progressive Democracy. 

What to them were justice, truth, grati- 
tu<k', fraternal or maternal love? Ilenry 
Clay was to bo immolated under the re- 
morseless car of this modern Jugtrernaut ; 
and who so j^ropcr as his own muther to 
use the sacrificial knife? It was done. 

Mr. Combs appealed to Pennsylvania 
and New Yoik to stand l>y and sustain the 
great father of the American system, the 
steadfast friend of human labor in all its 
forms, against the false traitors and pre- 
tended friends, who would certainly pr<.'s- 
trate our rising manufactures and median- 
ical pursuits ; but they would not heed 
Lim. They, too, cried out, "Crucify liim, 



crucify him I" and he was crucified. Oh, 
what a reckoning they have yet to settle 
for this outrageous wrong to America's 
great statesman I 

Of the many scenes of deep excitement 
through which the subject of cur notice 
passed during this ever-memorable cam- 
paign, we shall refer but to one of promin- 
ent interest. It occun-ed at New Haven, 
Connecticut. Mr. Combs had been invit- 
ed to be present at a great Whig gather- 
ing at that renowned ^ity, and accordingly 
went there at the appointed time. The 
principal streets were most magnificently 
decorated with flags and banners, bearing 
mottoes of appropriate significance. The 
crowd was innumerable, and moved by the 
highest enthusiasm. Senator Berren, of 
Treorcria, first addressed them, followed by 
Mr. AVhite, of New York, fi'om a broad 
platform, covered by the most venerable 
and distinguished sons of the pilgrim 
fathers. "Indeed," says Mr. Combs, in 
allusion to this occasion, " when I looked 
around me, I felt as if I were in the midst 
of that daring band of holy men who had 
crossed the broad Atlantic in quest of civil 
and religious liberty." Instead of speaking 
from the stand, a light wagon was placed 
for him to stand in, near the centre of the 
crowd, so as to be better heard. He spoke 
about two hours. At the commencement, 
he hrul asserted his belief in an overruling 
Providence in all things; that there was 
ever present " a Divinity that shapes our 
ends, rough-hew them as we will;" that 
He who was the orphan's father and the 
widow's husband had, in early life, taken' 
an orphan boy in the Slashes of Hanover, 
and led him on, step by step, from one 
great deed to another, till now, when his 
history should be written, and justice done 
him, he would occupy a pinnacle of glory 
high as Chimborazo's loftiest peak, with 
>b:«unt Olympus piled upon it. Like an 
eagle high in air, shot at by the poisoned 
shafts of calumny on every side, he still 
tlies higher, and with prouder ])inion, to- 
wards his mountain eyrie. " Look at him I"' 
exclaimed the speaker, as he threw liis 
hands upwards, and involuntarily the eyes 
of the multitude fcdlowed his gesture. 
Such a shout as instantly rent the skies 
was scarce ever heard before, or such a 
waving of handkerchiefs seen as was ex- 
hibited by tlie thousand ladies who were 



GENERAL LESLIE COMBS. 



21 



present. Casting his eyes upwards, he 
beheld an American eagle some few hun- 
dred feet distant, gracefully flying towards 
the east. Ilis own fei--lings were highly 
excited, lie folded his arms, and, looking 
at it for a moment, exclaimed, in a thril- 
ling tone of voice, " I have tuW you, fel- 
lew-citizens, that there were no accidents 
on earth or in Heaven, and I hail this as a 
happy omen. Fly on, and still fly higher, 
jM'Oud bird of my country's l>aiiner; and 
long may you continue to ornament thc 
flag whicli waves over the land of the free 
and the home c>f the brave I" No one pre- 
eent will ever forget the scene. 

As the Whigs of little Delaware mani- 
fested their gratitude to him by the pre- 
sentation of a magnificent piece of plate in 
1840, so also did those of the Empire State 
in 1844, with the following simple, but 
touching iiicrii)tion : 

" From the Whigri of Kings county, Xew York, 
to General Leslie Combs, of K<;utuoky, the 
friend of lleury Clay. 

"November, 1S44. 

"Si Pergama dextra, 
" Defend! pussent, etiani hac defensa fuissent." 

The defeat of Henry Clay, and the elec- 
tion of James K. Polk, produced a pro- 
found sensation throughout America; and 
when the vile duplicity and falsehood of 
the Democratic party in Peniisylvania is 
remetnbered, wdiere every standard was 
etnblazoned with "Polk, Dallas, and the 
Taiitt' of 1842 ;" while every where in the 
North it was uublushinglv asserted that 
Polk was a better protective taiift' man 
than Henry Clay, at the same time that 
he was supported in the South as an ad- 
vocate of free trade ; it cannot be wonder- 
ed at that both he and Dallas afterwards 
betrayed the North, and the ruinous Tarifl' 
Act of 1846 was passed, which has already 
prostrated some of our most important 
manufactures. Indeed, but for the opj^or- 
tune discovery of the rich gold-mines of 
California, we should, ere this, have had 
another commercial crash sucli as desolated 
the countiy in 1837-8; for it is indisput- 
ably true that the balance of trade for the 
last year has been so much against us that 
it has required the shipment of over sixty | 
millions of the precious metal, as well as j 
large amounts of United States and States! 
stocks, to make up the deficit. I 

General Combs was the last man to leave i 



this great battle field ; for, on the very 
day of the election in New York, he passed 
from Albany to New York city, and at 
everv Lindinix of ihe steamer stimulated 
the crowd, who were anxiously expecting 
the election news from Ohio, urging them 
to poll every vote in their ])ower for Henry 
Clay, for that every thing depended on the 
Empire State. 

Such aftei wards proved to be the case; 
and, but for the gross frauds in the city of 
Xew York, I'olk would have bo.-n defeated, 
and the great cause of An)erican labor jrlo- 
riouslv triumphant. The lilmjme Club did 
tlie dark deed, which has since produced 
such wide-spread ruin and distress in some 
of our manufacturing districts, especially 
in Pennsylvania. 

A man of less sanguine temperament, or 
one more calculating in his friendship, and 
less truly devoted to lleniy Clay in all his 
fortunes than General Combs, might have 
been led away by the loud shouting and 
deep enthusiasm naturally excited by the 
brilliant victories of the hero of Buena Vista, 
when the grateful hearts of millions of true 
Whigs in America throbbed with joy at 
the suggestion of his name in connection 
with the Presidential otlice. Even in Ken- 
tucky, multitudes of Mr. Clay's constant 
suppoiters and some of his oldest-friends 
avowed themselves in favor of General 
Taylor, as the most available candidate ; 
and some men denounced Mr. Clay as sel- 
fish and ambitious ; but General Combs 
never hesitated, never faltered. 

"Fuithfiil found among the faithless; 
Faithful only he amid iunuiuerable false." 

"L'nmoved, unshaken, unseduced, unterrified." 

And so he continued till the last moment 
in Philadelphia, when the National ^Vhig 
Convention decided in favor of General 
Taylor. 

Fatigue, loss of rest, anxiety of mind, 
had by tliis time protrastrated General 
Combs on a sick-bed ; yet, when Independ- 
ence S^puire was in the evening filled by 
tens of thousands of anxious Whigs, main- 
ly the devoted friends of Henry Clay, it 
was deemed most important to liave an 
address made by General Combs, the long- 
tried and ever-faithful friend of that illus- 
trious man. It was a severe trial for him 
to encounter ; yet, when lifted to the stand, 



\ 



>2 



GENERAL LESLIE COMBS. 



he pronounce<l that brief and most thril- ' against him, and he was defeated. But he 
ling address, which was at the time listen- died on the plateau of tlie battlefield, in 
ed to in breathless silence, and given on the front rank of the "Whig army, with 
the li'ditnintr's winofs to the utmost corners the Wbij; banner around him ;is his wind- 
of the United States. But no report of it ing-shect. He sustamed theLinou, the 
could do justice to the impressive manner Compromise, the cause of American labor 
and evidently deep emotions of the speakt.-r. and internal improvements, as presented 
while be seemed to feel that he was giving by Millard Fillmore ; and he would father 
up fur ever the h. jpe of his whole life to s-^e ^ thus have fallen than have ai chieved victo- 
Henry Clay President of theUnitcd States.'^ ry by any sacrifice of principle or personal 

Considering the success of the Whig' inde[endence. Those who fly from the 
cause as above all other considerations, he I battle-field, and those who hide in the ra- 
pursued the same course in 1848 that he | vines and ditches while the balls are fly- 
had done in 1840. From Maine to In- ing thickest, are disgraced by defeat, and 
diana his voice was every where heard in uot tl e leader who bravely fights and falls 
private circles and in public assemblages in the combat. Among the many high 
of the people, urging all to unite in the j and honorable names recorded in his sup- 
support of General Taylor ; and hundreds , port are those of Henry Clay and J. J. 
of thousands yet live to testify to the pow- ' Crittenden. Mr. Combs has no complaints 
er and eftect of his speeches. , to make against those who failed to do 

Neither General Harrison nor General ' their duty. He feels that his is still ob- 
Taylor ever forgot (we will not say forgave) | \ious: to hold on to Whig principles ou:y 
his unalleiable attachment and adherence ' the more firmly because the timid and 



to Mr. Clav ; and although he did more for 
each after his nomination than any other 



treacherous abandon them. 

He has ever preached and endeavored 



one man in America did, they acted to- 'to practice the philosophy that tlie world 
wards him as if they only remembered his : was intended by its Creator to be governed, 
opposition to their nomination by the ; uot by force and violence, but by love and 
Whig part3\ They never evinced the ;; truth — love, embracing all benevolence of 
sliglitest giatitude for his eflacient and dis- thought and act, and truth in deed as well 
interested advocacy of their claim before as in word. To his rigid observance of 
the people. But that may be allowed to " these two great moral landmarks may be 
pass. Mr. Combs had his own self-appro- attributed "the remarkable etlect of his 
bation, and the high confidence of the; public speeches. He never berated or 
great Whig party, and they were infinitely 1 denounced bitterly his ojiponeuts. He 
more vakuible than court favor and official 1 lectured them, criticised them, and en- 
patronage. , deavored to refute their arguments in good 
We come now to Mr. Combs' last politi- i| temper; and he never uttered a word on 
cal campaign ; and shall treat it briefly. ! the stump which he did not believe to be 
His coiiipetitur was allied by blood and ' true, nor expressed a sentiment which he 



marriage 



to several numerous wealthy | 
and influential Whig families in the dis-', 
trict; had been himself a Whig in early | 
life; was the present pride and hope of j 
the Democracy; and thus concontr.ited | 
all their supj><>rt. General Combs had no j 
such extra aid or sympathy in the canvass. 
The mass of tlic Whigs believed he was, 
invincible, and that therefore they need' 
make no ctfort. lu a long professional j 
career he had made some personal enemies i 
among the Whigs, who took this occasinn ; 
to gratify personal vengeance at thesacri-, 
fice uf pt.Htical principle. Some hundreds j 
of the first class did not go to the polls. 
A few of the latter were active and violent ' 



did not most sincerely entertain. 

When he commenced life, he set himself 
to work first to attain iiecuniary indepen- 
dence by his own labor, and, second^ to do 
all the good he could to all around him. 
His first production, which went to the 
press more than thirty years ago, was an 
argument and appeal in favor of a lunatic 
asylum in Kentucky. There was not one 
then west of the mountains, ami only three 
or four in America. A few humane men 
in L'xington took up the subject, and the 
result was the commencement of the pre- 
sent magnificent establishment, Avhich has 
ever since been dispensing its blersiugs in 
the State. 



GEISTERAL LESLIE COMBS. 



23 



At a later date, he aided the public libra- 
ry by a large donation, coiisiduring- his 
limited means ; stimulated the establish- 
ment of imblic free-schools ; and a fumale 
orphan asylum ; all of which are now con- 
ferring inestimable benefits upon the com- 
munity. Not a church has been erected 
in Lexington, for whites or blacks, to 
which he did not contribute his mite. In 
1833, he passed through the severest or- 
deal of his life. When the Asiatic chol- 
era first made its appearance on this con- 
tinent, (in Canada, we believe,) scattering 
death in its path and all around, an almost 
universal panic seized upon the public 
mind. The alarm seemed to increase ac- 
cording to the distance from the scene of 
its first desolation, and prevaded to a groat 
extent the community of General Combs' 
residence as well as others, although the 
medical faculty there assured the people 
that they wx-re in no danger; that their po- 
sition was so elevated and healthful, that if 
it should even "rain pestilence upon them, it 
would run oti'," The consternation of the 
community may be easily imagined, when, 



He had a full sweep of vengence upon his 
enemies — he had a few such — and upon 
his political persecutors, by helping them 
when they couM not help themselves, and 
felt as if they were abandoned by every 
friend on earth. " It was a glorious 
triumph," is the langnage of Mr. Combs. 
" I would not now exchange it for a victoiy 
on the battle field, or the highest political 
prf)motion — so help me God !" 

The entire population <if Lexington was 
almost decimated in a month. Mr. Combs 
I had met the British and the Indians in hos- 
' tile array ; had been wounded, and a prison- 
er, subjected to every savage barbarity ; 
: but he had never before found such a foe 
jas the cholera of 1833, so horrid, relent- 
less and terrific, in act and aspect. His 
I escape from it, exposed as he was, seemed 
[ almost miraculous ; for he was not touch- 
ed till near the close of the season of the 
epidemic, and then not very violently. 
His health is still perfect, and he retains 
all the vigor and elasticity of early man- 
hood. 

In all the relations of life. General 



iu June, 1833, that mysterious disease burst ' Combs has discharged the obligations grow- 
forth in all its fury in their midst, s|)aniig 
neither age nor sex ; old men and cliildien, 
master and slave, seeming alike subject to its 
sudden and fatal visitation. Its first known 
demonstration was in General Comb's 
own family, upon the person of a favonte 
servant, who died in a few hours ; thence 
it spread among his immediate neighliors. 
Thousands tied to the mountains, leaving 
their houses deserted or iu care of their 
slaves, who, being thus abandoned, became 
more alarmed, and consequently more 
liable to the fell disease. Many thought 
it cont.-igious, and would not even visit 
their relatives and dearest friends. A hio-h 
duty seemed to devolve upon Mr. Combs. 
With a calm and determined front he met 
it, and went to work to study the disease, 
endeavor to arrest its progress, and relieve 
its subjects. He never stopped, except for 
brief periods of rest, day or night, for more 
than thirty days, devoting himself wholly 
to the sick and suflering; rich and pour, 
black and white, bond and free, friend aivl 



ing out of those relations with scrupulous 
fidelity. Enterprising and public-spirited, 

\ he has ever been among the foremost in 

' promoting any scheme having for its ob- 
ject the public good, and has liberally used 
his means in contributing to every project 

\ calculated to advance the public prosper- 
ity. As a member of the Legislature of 
Kentucky, and Chairman of the Commit- 
tee of internal Improvements in 1833, he 
strenuously advocated a system of internal 
improvements, which l)y his influence, was 
partially adopted, and which has done 

, nuich towards placing the State in its pres- 
ent high position. As a private citizen, 
within the last few years Jie has devoted 
himself to the work of arousing the pub- 
lic mind to the importance of railroad 
communication ; and by his addresses, and 
through the press, has done more, perhaps, 
than any other man, iu awakening the 
people of Kentucky to the necessity of 
prompt and vigorous action in this behalf. 
The result is seen in the various lines of 



foe, alike received his services, sometimes road projected and now under progress, 



in the most menial and disgustful olliees 
at their bedsides. It may be justly claim- 
ed for him that he was the instrument of 
hope, of relief, of prolonged life to many. 



and by which the entire State will, in the 
course of a few years, be traversed. Such 
indeed has been Ids characteristic enerLTV 
and zeal in matters of this sort, that when 



24 



GENERAL LESLIE COMBS. 



any thing was to be done, he was looked 
to, to take the lead. 

He has ever been, emphatically, the 
poor man's ti-iend ; and never was an ap- 
[leal made to him in vain in hehalf of snt- 
I'ering humanity. I)iiiing one of his tours 
in the I'residential campaign of 1844, he 
chanced to stop at a country church in 
Virginia, and heard tlie pastor deliver his 
farewell sermon, in the coui-se of which 
some remarks were made in reference to 
the pecuniary embarrassment which forced 
llie sepeijitiou ot this old shejtherd from 
bis fluek. Ujion the return of General 
Combs home, he immediately enclosed a 
sum of money to this old minister, whom 
for the first and last time he saw but a few 
minutes on that Sabbath, and to whom he 
was an entire stranger. Accident maile 
the writer of this acijuaiuted with this 
circumstance, a knowledge of which has 
hitherto been confined to the parties to it 
and himself. A favoiite plan of benevo- 
lence with General Combs has been to as- 
sist in bringing forward poor young men 
of talent, assisting them in their studies, 
recommending them to public favor, and 
aiding them in getting a start in their pro- 



fession ; and more than une has had reason 
to thank the good fortune that threw them 
in Ids way. 

In 1833, while the cholera was raging 
with extreme violence in Lexington, one 
of its first victims was a bitter personal 
enemy ; and yet, while fear drove othei-s 
from his bedside, General Combs nursed 
him with all the care and tenderness of a 
devoted friend. The annual election for 
members of the General Assembly came 
on a short time after the pestilence had 
subsided, and the citizens of Lexington 
and Fayette county testified their gratitude 
for his humane exeitions bv bestowinjr 
upon him their unsolicited suftVages, and 
electing him a member of the Legislature. 

The writer of this has had opportunities 
which few have enjoyed of studying tho- 
roughly the character of the subject of this 
sketch, and it aft'ords him the highest grat- 
ification to bear testimony to his unbend- 
iiig integrity, his firmness of purpose in , 
maintaiuino: the riirht at every hazard, his I 
maidy inde]iendence. his benevolence of 
disposition, and, in short, all those high . 
tjualities which make up the true man — j 
the noblest work of God. 



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